The Power Ranger Archives: Things Unsaid One Shots
by ShinySephiroth
Summary: In 1993 Zordon of Eltar chose five teenagers with ATTITUDE to become warriors in the war he had been waging against evil for thousands of years. This collection of stories chronicles different characters and their individual stories leading up to the events causing the release of the wicked Rita Repulsa, including Lothor, Auric, the Grayson and Mitchell families, and many more!
1. Story 1: The Interferers

**The Interferers**

 ** _Twenty Years After William Bell Time Traveled - Prime Universe_**

Feuxlivia, or Olivia the Freelancer, looked down at her wrist tech. As she had feared, the Beacon was active and masking Walter's location.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Link asked, anger on his face. "The President wanted both the boy _and_ the Beacon. We lost them _both_."

"About that Peter character..." Charlie said, trying not to stare at the corpse lying to his right on the floor. The one belonging to Agent Charlie Francis, his Temporal Twin from the Prime Universe. "I sniffed him and-"

"I never get tired of you saying that." Link said laughing.

"- _and_ he smells like us. He's from _our_ dimension," Charlie said.

"That's weird..." Feuxlivia said, folding her arms across her chest. "How would he have gotten here? And why is he helping the people from this place?"

Feuxlivia began thinking about how evil she had been taught the Prime Universe was. She had been told from a very young age how William Bell had crossed over from his universe into theirs and began attacks on them, with the sole intent of ruling them all. She knew not these were all lies told to her to get her to do the Will of President Walter Bishop, known to William Bell as Walternate. She knew not that she was a puppet in the grand schemes of the being known as the Supreme.

The Freelancers, in fact, were all created from the research William Bell and Walter Bishop had done to try and replicate the theories from Robert Bishop. Robert believed people were hindered from realizing their cerebral potential due to the experiences they received in life and the environments they encountered. He believed that if a person were put in the right environment that their physiology and psychology would be able to blossom into something... new. He believed it would unlock the hidden powers in the Human Genome.

Not believing it was possible to create such an environment, Walter and Bell had created a drug they believed was able to mimic the results Robert was looking for, calling it 'Cortexiphan'. The reason for this venture was due to some altercations that had occurred between William, Walter, and Walternate two decades earlier...

. . .

 ** _165 Million BC - Nathadian Universe_**

Laguna breathed in deeply as September broke the connection. "Wow, that was intense! But... What's going on? Why did you stop?"

September had his eyes closed as he responded. "Because I skipped some events. My apologies, Dr. Loire. I was so concerned about showing you Walter and how he met Olivia Dunham that I did not show you the part of the story that explains how Olivia gained her powers."

"She was a Cortexiphan kid then, right?" Laguna asked, sitting back in his swivel chair and folding his arms.

"Yes. This part of their history should show you why Walter and William had to use Cortexiphan in the first place." Stated September as he opened his eyes and looked to Laguna. "Are you ready?"

Laguna smiled. "You better believe it!"

As soon as September's hands touched his head, Laguna found himself once again in a vision, standing beside September in Walter's lab on the night William Bell found out that Peter-Utopia (who William would later call simply "Peter") had been taken from the Utopian Dimension (Alternate Universe) over to the Dystopian Dimension (Prime Universe).

. . .

 ** _One Year After William Bell Time Travelled - Prime Universe_**

"What have you done!?" Bell demanded, grabbing Walter by the arm and pulling him away.

"Oh, William..." Walter said, the light in his face dropping. "I... I found something. A device. I used it, Belly. I was able to see another dimension. Another universe! There I saw your double, and _mine_ , Belly.I saw my double working on a cure for Peter. He was doing it wrong. The alpha cells were bonding to the wrong molecules..."

William swallowed hard. Right as Walter said it, he realized he had given Walternate bad information. He realized it was because of him that Peter's recovery was stagnate. Once again, he would've been the reason for Peter's death.

 _A sort of... Universal Equilibrium. I killed him once, and perhaps the universe caused me to have a blip in my thoughts, so I could once again be the cause of his death..._ William Bell thought darkly.

"Okay... so you created a sort of Dimensional Window. But how did you cross over?" William asked, feigning ignorance while still getting straight to the point.

"When I saw the error my twin had done, I modified the window so I could use it to cross over. I impersonated my twin and brought Peter over here. I was planning on just administering the cure, but Elizabeth walked in on us," Walter said.

"Oh, no..." William Bell said, deducing the rest.

"Oh, yes, Belly. I explained everything to her and she began crying. _Begging_ not to let him return. I... I can't take him away from her. Not again," Walter said, almost asking Bell for permission to keep Peter with his eyes.

"But that's not fair for the other Walter."

"I know... I know..."

William looked at the boy. The boy destined to grow into the man who could cure the world with his genius. The boy who could create a utopia.

 _Maybe... maybe this is what is best for my universe. Maybe this boy can cure my world. Ensure my dystopia doesn't happen._ Bell thought, knowing he was being selfish. _Then I can help ensure the Utopian Dimension maintains their status quo... I will just move there and do most of my work from there. Yes, I can make this work!_

"Walter...? I will help you but first... I must tell you the truth." William Bell said, sitting down.

"The truth?" Walter asked, confused. "About what?"

"About who I really am. Walter, I go by the name of William Bell to atone for my sins. A new start," Bell began.

Walter furrowed his brow as he sat down. "What are you saying, Belly? What is your real name?"

"My name is Peter Bishop, and I'm from sixty years in the future..."

. . .

 ** _Four Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe_**

William Bell sat at his desk in the building he had purchased in the Alternate Universe (formerly known to him as the Utopian Dimension). He had become a renowned scientist in that realm, wanting to do all he could to ensure the Utopia he saw in the future he had dissolved would still come to pass. The guilt of allowing Walter to keep Peter led him to living almost full time in the Alternate Universe, only visiting his home universe from time to time (though he did have a business in that realm which he had started with his father, Walter Bishop).

While he sat at his desk, he went through his daily routine of going over the notes of Peter-Utopia, the man he had killed when he had first used the machine he coined as the Dimension Jumper. The man, in his opinion, was brilliant. The many academic exercises and inventions the man had in his book was mind boggling and impressive. William had been able to improve upon some of Peter-Utopia's ideas, but for the most part it was Peter-Utopia speaking to William from the grave, molding William into a smarter and better man.

On that particular day, William found some research from the Utopian version of Robert Bishop, which had been documented in Peter-Utopia's journal for reference. It was interesting to read for William, because he had been able to see that for all intents and purposes that the Robert Bishop, his grandfather, from the Utopian/Alternate Universe was the exact same person as his own grandfather from the Dystopian/Prime Universe. Through his research from Peter-Utopia's journal, William Bell had been able to see that everything in both universes were identical to each other until the birth of Peter Bishop. His and his Temporal Twin's births were when their timelines split and became distinctively different one from the other.

Reading over the research summaries from Peter-Utopia, William Bell was very curious. It was about Robert's belief that people were limited due to their life experiences, starting from the moment they were born. He believed that if he were able to create an environment conducive to the brain's development that he could create a "perfect" person. A person with the capacity to use their mind and body in ways unimaginable by the Human species.

Reading on, William Bell found himself reading what Robert had done for his experiments from Peter-Utopia's point of view, since it was abridged by him. Being the near perfect man he was, the account of Robert Bishop's experiments were written with a tone of absolute horror and disgust. Robert chronicled how he had created something called a Wall Machine, able to not only teleport him to an underground research lab he had, but also able to allow people to open up holes in otherwise solid objects, like walls. He had developed it for one main goal: to deposit an infant directly from its mother during labor into an enclosed space, created specifically for the purpose of ensuring the brain and body would become its "perfect self".

This led to William's astonishment: he discovered the name of the test subject. The name belonged to the child his father had told him was a stillborn: his twin brother Sinclair Bishop. Robert had done experiments with his wife's consent to ensure their pregnancy would have twins: one who would be raised in the real world (Walter), and the other who would serve as a control to see how limiting the real world could be (Sinclair). William felt his soul darken as he read that Robert had his wife give birth in the underground lab. Right as Sinclair (the first born) left the comfort of his mother's body, he was thrust through the Wall Machine where cold, unfeeling mechanical arms had placed the infant in a world of controlled environments and uncaring experiments. Meanwhile, Walter was born and documented as the only surviving child of the birth. Both parents were proud of themselves. The only thing Peter-Utopia added about that account was one word (circled with a red pen): Abominable.

Reading on, William saw how concerned Peter-Utopia had become over the Wall Machine experiment, and what it meant to the man who was supposed to be his uncle. William read about how Peter-Utopia had tried to find Sinclair and the secret underground base Robert Bishop had confined him to. William found out that Peter-Utopia had attempted to find the lost boy for two years, but had given up due to lack of resources to find such a location.

 _That's because he was ill equipped..._ William thought. [i]He came from a world where they didn't have a need to track people down. No need or thought for war and security or covert and anti-covert operations. William, however, was as close to being a master at the art of war tech as it one could get. He vowed that he would take up where Peter-Utopia failed and find where Sinclair had been hidden.

. . .

 _ **Four and a Half Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe**_

Walternate had been spying on William Bell for quite some time. One thing he had been having trouble with was figuring out how to get into Bell's office. Ever since he had first seen William vanish in front of his house through what he knew not was a Dimension Jumper, he had been cautious of his help. William had won Walternate over, though, with his vast knowledge of Peter's illness and how to medicate it. He had always kept in the back of his mind, though, that William was a man he did not know and he could not completely trust him.

Over the past few months, William had grown more secretive and distant. It had been three and a half years since his son, Peter, had gone missing and Walternate had grown very paranoid due to that fact. With William having appeared in Walternate's life in an odd way, and his odd behavior as of late, Walternate had begun to investigate William. He felt the best way to get to know William would be to find a way into his office. After some time, Walternate had found an algorithm to crack even William Bell's security system. Once he had been certain William was out of the office, Walternate had let himself in.

It wouldn't take Walternate long to learn everything: right on William's desk was his personal journal, alongside the journal of Peter-Utopia on the page for Sinclair Bishop and what his father had done to his twin brother. Confused, Walternate sat down and turned the pages of William's journal to the beginning of it. That journal in particular was written chronicling the exploits William had gone through since his first journey to the Utopian Dimension. What it meant was that the first thing Walternate read about was the unfortunate event of Peter-Dystopia (William Bell) killing Peter-Utopia. It wouldn't be long after that for Walternate to find out that Peter-Utopia was the future version of Alternate Peter. The boy who was _his_ son. Not too long after that Walternate would learn that his temporal twin from the Prime Universe, Walter Bishop, had stolen his son from him and was at that time raising him as his own. In a matter of moments, Walternate would learn the truth about _everything_ , and the consequences of that knowledge were soon to follow.

. . .

The reason for Walternate being able to enter William's office at the time he had was due to an excursion William had begun: He believed through his detective work that he had found a way to get to Sinclair Bishop. After having located his grandfather's journal in Walter's old library, he had found hidden instructions for something called a Wall Machine. After having deciphered the puzzle (a second piece of paper hidden within a page of the journal), William had teleported himself and the Wall Machine to Robert Bishop's secret underground lab. The next step was easy: activate the Wall Machine and point it to the wall where the documents said Sinclair was being held.

Putting in the code Robert's notes had left behind, William watched the machine hum to life and direct a beam at the wall. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the wall. Walking toward it, William saw that he could not see anything due to how dark it was. Looking around, William found a flashlight. It took a moment for it to come to life but, when it did, William was able to perceive an area with some odd machines and what looked like obstacle courses strewn about. He jumped when a boy was suddenly seen in the midst of the room.

"Sin... Sinclair!?" William found himself asking in surprise. It had to be his uncle, but the fact he was but a boy after sixty plus years in the area baffled him.

The boy walked toward him, curious. He had never seen another person, or heard language. William extended a hand, and Sinclair did likewise. William tugged on the hand a bit, causing Sinclair to inch forward. Realizing William was trying to help him out of the only world he had known, the curious boy accepted the subtle invitation and for the first time in his life touched foot outside of his controlled environment.

"My name is William."

Sinclair looked at him, not able to understand the concept of language. Wishing to defend himself, he simply pushed William away without any warning or change in his blank expression. William was shocked by the force Sinclair exerted on him, feeling himself be picked up off his feet and hurled across the room. He shook his rattled head as he slid down the wall to the ground.

Pointing at the boy, he said, "Sinclair." He then pointed to himself and announced his name.

"William," Sinclair stated, understanding suddenly the concept of "names" just by watching Bell's actions. He pointed at William Bell as he said this, indicating that he understood that he was pointing at a being who identified himself as "William". He then pointed to himself and said, "Sinclair."

"How is this possible!?" William asked himself as he stood up. "How are you still a boy? Did grandfather really do it? Create an environment that allowed you to become a Metahuman?"

Sinclair gave William a blank stare.

William smiled. "Come here, my dear uncle. There is much you need to learn from me, as there is much I can learn from you."

. . .

Walternate slammed his fist into the table. "He killed my boy! He then came back, fiddling with Time and everything else and causing that... _other_ me to take him! I want my boy back! And I will cause my _twin_ to suffer for it! And his horror of a son, my 'friend', William Bell!"

Walternate made sure to leave everything as he had found it, so Bell would not know he had been there. After leaving the desk, he went to the lab to find what he had learned William kept there: the Dimension Jumper. Tuning it the way he had learned from the journal, he found himself looking at the same building Bell owned, but in the Prime Universe. Walternate took a wrist tech strapped to the Dimension Jumper and placed it on his arm, to keep himself connected remotely to the Dimension Jumper. After pushing a button on the wrist tech, Walternate felt a slight buzz before being zipped from his universe (which he was angry to read Bell had coined to be the "Alternate Universe") over to the Prime Universe.

Leaving the building he jumped onto a bus with some change he had in his jacket. He watched in awe during the trip at the familiar sights. It was mind boggling to him how similar everything was, even with the differences which had begun in each timeline after what he read had been the turning point for each universe: the birth of Peter Bishop.

After about a half hour, Walternate snuck into his twin's lab from a back entrance. It did not take him long to find Walter and what used to be _his_ son in the lab, laughing and playing together.

 _It's true... Walter_ _was_ _able to cure my boy..._ Walternate thought. _And look at my boy now. He's_ _happy_ _. And... Walter is_ _making_ _him happy. He truly is a different man than me... Perhaps the way I would have raised Peter would have made him into the good man he was meant to be, but... I would have never let him_ _play_ _in my lab like this. If I were to take him back now... Would he be disappointed in me? Realize something is amiss? I don't want to have to_ _compete_ _with my doppelganger for the rest of my life! But I can remedy that. Maybe... create a concoction to poison Walter's mind. Perhaps something to help the amyloid-beta accumulate in his mind? Something that will temper the cerebral spinal fluid from washing it out from the brain...? Yes, then he will lose his mind. I will begin to ruin Walter's life and his relationship with Peter. In doing so, that thief will hold no place in Peter's heart. Then, when the time is right... Then will I return and reclaim my son._

He left his secret watch place and looked at the wrist tech on his arm. He knew he could not piggyback off of William's tech for too much longer, else he would risk getting caught. He was already making plans in his mind on, upon returning home, he would reverse engineer the wrist tech to create his own Dimension Jumper. Once he did, he would continually return to the Prime Universe and poison Walter with the formula that would cause him to lose his mind. With that in mind, he pushed a button on the wrist tech and found himself once again in William Bell's "Alternate Universe" lab. Turning off the Dimension Jumper, he left the building with the stolen piece of equipment which would help him get his revenge.

. . .

 _ **Eight Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe**_

William Bell shook his head as he appeared in his office. He had just crossed over from the Prime Universe and found himself very distraught. The man who he knew as his real father was deteriorating quickly with some disease neither he nor the doctors of either universe (for he had been investigating in the Alternate Universe) could understand, let alone stop. Walter's mind had been slowly degrading for the past three years, and it mattered not what treatment he received for his brain continued to deteriorate. If William hadn't known any better, he would have believed Sinclair's hypothesis that some exogenous means were to blame for his father's degradation.

Sighing, he left his office and had his driver take him to Walternate's lab. Although he wasn't his father per se, seeing a version of his father being fully lucid helped curb his ill feelings. After his driver had pulled into the parking lot, William Bell let himself into the lab. He found himself alone.

"Walter!?" Bell shouted into the empty room. "Walter!?"

He shrugged and began to look through some recent notes, to see what Walternate was busying himself with. He had grown rather distant over the past few years, but still maintained some contact (although it seemed forced, and Bell could not understand why).

As he continued to look around, he heard a humming sound. _Oh, dear... Walternate must have left a machine on. Hunh... That's not like him, though. Oh, no... What if Walternate is also getting the mental deterioration!? In my Time neither of the Walters suffered from this, but first my father, now Walternate...? Is all of this because of my Time traveling!? Is it some odd form of Universal Equilibrium Sinclair and I have not postulated...?_

Following the sound, William Bell found a locked door. Pulling out his credit card, he was able to easily get past it. As the door opened, his heart sank into the bottom of his stomach. He was staring at a Dimensional Window. He could see an attachment on it helping it to serve as a Jumper, as well. Running over, he turned the monitor on and saw where it was saying Walternate was: in Walter's lab in the Prime Universe.

Rushing over with the Window, William peered through it at the location the machine told him to point it: at Walter's office. Where William was, he was pointing the Window at a closed door. Through the Window, peering into the Prime Universe, William saw an open door with a man who looked like Walter, but did not compose himself like a man on the edge of dementia. The readings from the Window told William that his suspicion was correct: he was looking at Walternate. He watched in horror as he saw some odd chemical being poured into Walter's thermos and mixed in. It took only moments for William to figure out what was happening: Walternate was poisoning Walter. Somehow, Walternate knew Walter had taken Peter from him and he was getting some sort of elaborate revenge for it.

Guilt swept through Bell's body. He couldn't think straight. He tried to figure out why Walternate did not simply take Peter back, but his mind was buzzing with so many thoughts he could hardly focus on that concept. Swallowing hard, he hit the manual override and forced Walternate back to the Alternate Universe. As Walternate appeared in his own lab office, confused, he heard a crash outside. Running out of the office, anger boiled to his brain's surface as he watched William Bell destroying his Dimension Jumper.

"You murdering fool!" Walternate screamed. "Don't take my revenge from me! I want my boy back!"

William paused. He thought about the hypocrisy of his meddling with the universes, but not allowing others to. He had caused as much damage, if not more, than Walternate. He looked at the man who lost his son, the man who was dealing with his grief (in the wrong way, but still hurting), and empathized with him.

"I'm so very sorry, Walter... I've made an awful mess of things..." William Bell said as he pushed a button on his wrist tech, travelling back to his home universe.

Walternate sneered. "Yes you have... But now, I have what I need."

He turned and looked at the various cameras in his lab. Not only taking video, but also registering power output. He knew one day he would have the evidence he needed to go to the government to report Bell. He just needed patience. Seeing as he had such evidence, the next step in his plan was simple: he was going to the government to show them that not only did he come across tech to cross over from world to world, but he also had evidence that the "Others" had already begun invading. That they had taken his son. They wouldn't need to know Walternate had been going there for years getting his vengeance. All they needed to know was that their whole universe was under attack. With the right government funding and resources (coupled with his genius), Walternate's next plan would come to pass: tech strong enough to be able to invade and destroy the Prime Universe. Walternate smiled to himself at the thought.

 _Walter and Bell took my son from me... they took my whole world from me. Now? Now I return the favor..._

. . .

 _ **Prime Universe**_

Walter shed a tear as William finished explaining what he had found out to him. Standing behind William was a young man in a polo shirt and slacks: Sinclair. He had become known in the public eye solely as Bell's nephew from another country (and with Sinclair's genius, a forged identity was fairly simple for them to create, hacking into a European country to recreate himself). He was becoming an instrumental piece of Bell's scientific breakthroughs. At that time, though, the only thing he was being was a supportive brother for his twin brother's Temporal Twin (for Sinclair was Walternate's twin brother).

Stepping forward and placing a hand on Walter's shoulder, he smiled. "Do not worry, Walter I'm sure we can fix this."

"Not in any way Walternate will care for..." William said. "If he solely wanted Peter back, he would've nabbed him years ago. It is quite obvious he's the reason why you've been failing the past few years, Walter."

Walter nodded. "And it is all my fault, Belly. Oh, my son... What have I done!? But... I don't want to give up Peter. He, too, is my son now!"

"Being forgiven of your sins is a tough road at times..." Sinclair said, looking into Walter's eyes. "You must be ready for the consequences. Perhaps now is your day of atonement."

"But we are not putting into account what Walternate's end goal is!" William demanded. "He wants Walter to _suffer_."

Sinclair frowned. "Although I have been with you all for the past three and a half years, I can only understand what this need for revenge is on paper. I... I fail to comprehend why anyone would _want_ revenge! It's... illogical!"

"It's human, my dear boy. Human and carnal and evil..." Walter said, suddenly lucid. "And you are more than Human. You are a _Meta_ human. You are beyond us. _Better_. You should be glad you don't understand our vile and despicable ways. Sinclair... Although William and I have done some great things, we are the villains right now. Although it is quite obvious Walternate wants something else from us, that's with him. You are right: it is time I paid the piper."

"And I will-" Sinclair began. Before he could finish his sentence, Bell's wrist tech began going off.

"Something is trying to rip us back to the Alternate Universe without our permission..." William Bell said, furrowing his brow. "But only Sinclair and I should have access to the Dimension Jumper. This can only mean Walternate..."

Sinclair nodded. "Computer? Show us an image of the Secret Lab in the Alt Universe."

A hologram appeared from Sinclair's wrist tech. He, William, and Walter watched as hordes of government agents ransacked Bell Industries. Walternate led the way into the Secret Lab while scientists attempted to override the security measures Sinclair had put in, on the off chance someone tried to forcibly recall either of them to other dimensions.

A slightly glazed look appeared on Walter's face. "Oh, my. Look, Belly. It's me! But what are those soldiers doing? And why do I look so angry...?"

William gave his senile father a sad smile. "Because they are attempting to make us pay for what we've done, Walter. Sinclair? Our business in the Alternate Universe seems to be done for."

Walter frowned. "Oh, dear. They must have found out about that time I snuck money out of Papa's bag for ice cream... We are in _big_ trouble..."

"That we are..." Bell replied. "Are we disconnected now, Sinclair?"

"Affirmative," Sinclair reported.

William Bell nodded. "Okay, then. Let's get back to our offices here and see what we can learn about how far into the government Walternate has embedded himself."

. . .

 _ **Ten Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Prime Universe**_

Two years had gone by since Walternate had allied himself with the government of the Alternate Universe, and Walter's lab was bustling with activity. Walter (despite his mind being on a downward spiral), Bell, and Sinclair had discovered through multiple bouts of spy work using both their Dimensional Window as well as through dangerous recon missions to the Alternate Universe that Walternate had begun in depth research into war machines to attack the Prime Universe.

To counter such a thing, they knew they had to up their game. To be prepared for the war which was coming. To defend themselves from the threat of the Alternate Universe, Sinclair postulated they would need more people like him. Due to his time in Robert Bishop's isolated environment, his abilities were amazing: he had enhanced speed, enhanced strength, enhanced sight, enhanced cognitive skills (which included telekinesis and telepathy), enhanced reflexes, and a difference in physiology that made it so he did not grow hair and only needed to eat raw meat. The physiological difference also caused him to age much slower than a normal Human.

To have gotten to the point he had, though, Sinclair had stayed in his environment for over sixty years. Although they could have deposited a baby sixty years in the past and taken it out when it was matured to be like Sinclair, they had a few reasons not to. The first was that they did not want to force another living being to be isolated their whole lives like Sinclair had. He felt sad at times knowing he would never have a "normal" life, even knowing what the trade off was. The next reason they did not travel back was for the sake of the parents and family of the infant: they knew that the family would lose raising and loving that child like they should have been able to. Yet another reason was a pact William had made with himself and the rest of his "team": they would never Time travel again. He was afraid of the consequences, especially with the unknown reality of Universal Equilibrium. To ensure they were safe from those consequences, the notes to create a Time machine were destroyed and so was the machinery (though it was child's play for Sinclair if he wanted to recreate what he already knew).

Instead of going the route of Robert Bishop, the trio had decided to dive into pharmacology. Using Bell's research into his uncle, they had developed a drug and treatment which they believed could mimic what Robert had done to his son, but in a more "humane" way. They dubbed the drug Cortexiphan and had begun underground testing on a group of children.

These pre-teens were from a local adoption agency. William had adopted all of them with little effort due to his high standing in society and significant wealth. The use of young children was necessary since Cortexiphan was able to prevent the brain from being limited, but it could not reverse what living in society had already done. The younger the children, the better off the trials would go.

The children were always treated with the utmost care and love. William and Walter acted as the parents to the children, and the best parents they could be, while Sinclair did all he could to be an outstanding big brother (due to his appearance causing him to look similar in age). The children were never hurt, though Walter would forget at times who the children actually were due to his deteriorating brain and at times push the tests further than they should have been pushed. The worst side effects any child got from the experiments was a bloody nose.

There were a few children in the trials, and they all seemed to have very interesting abilities which interacted with or even surpassed the known laws of physics. There were a few with the ability to manipulate and cause fires (the pyros). They were Nancy, Susan, Sally, and Lincoln. Two were capable of "energy exchange" between themselves and other objects or individuals, and their names were James and Miranda. Lloyd, Julie, and Nick had the ability to transfer their emotions to others. Cameron, Alan, and Timothy were able to perform both magnokinesis (manipulating magnetic fields) and electrokinesis (manipulating electric fields). Simon and Julie were able to read minds.

Two of the children had a very interesting area which came with their gifts: manipulating and interacting with the matrix of space/time. A boy by the name of Charlie could smell when there was a change in the fabric of space or time (he was able to smell that William was an older but "different" Peter Bishop, that Peter was from another timeline, and that Sinclair had Peter's same "smell"). The group also tested and saw that Charlie was able to sense when the Dimension Jumper was used. They knew he was going to essentially be their bloodhound in the war Walternate was wishing to conduct on the Prime Universe.

The other child with space/time abilities was a girl named Olivia, though she went by the name Olive. She could create natural vortexes that were undetectable by machinery (except for Sinclair and Charlie) to cross to other dimensions. She had done so a few times, but it caused great strain on her mind. Simply knowing that she _could_ do it was enough. She was going to be their secret weapon in a counter attack to Walternate and the Alternate Universe.

One day as the kids sat at the dinner table, ripping into a box of pizza (Walter had forgotten to pull the casserole out of the oven and ruined it), William had stood up somberly and looked at the kids. "I'd like to thank each of you for being so diligent in this."

Lincoln pushed up the glasses on his face and smiled. "Of course, Dad! We know that if we don't do this, the world will be destroyed..."

A tear came to William's eyes. "I caused a great mess, but Walternate's wishes to attack the entire world because of us is wrong. I know you all sacrifice social lives to help us."

"That means nothing compared to _saving the world,_ " Julie said, trying to comfort Bell.

Sinclair smiled. "But it's still a sacrifice nonetheless. We thank you all. Really."

As they spoke, Olive noticed Walter was staring at his plate sadly. "What's wrong, Dad?"

"I was just thinking of my wife, Elizabeth. I'm... in no condition to help her right now. My son is helping her, but... We aren't on the best of terms at the moment..." Walter explained to Olive.

"Peter is a nice boy. I've met him a few times," Olive replied. "If you talk to him and actually tell him the truth-"

"He'd be _crushed_!" The senile Walter screamed at the top of his lungs at Olive, picking up his plate and throwing it at a wall.

Sinclair focused and stopped the plate from crashing with his mind. As he did, Olive gave the hurting Walter a smile. "Just... give him a chance..."

"I have sacrificed my time with him and my wife to ensure this project goes over as it should," Walter said, gaining control and calming down. "If we don't save the world, then none of the love I could give him would mean anything. This first. This first..."

As he said that, Charlie bolted up. "No... Um... Behind you! Walter! It's _him_!"

Tuning into what Charlie had felt (Sinclair had all of the abilities of the "Cortexiphan Kids", but since he had to focus on so many abilities and he hadn't yet perfected them due to Robert Bishop's environment going unused for many years and certain exercises not being given to Sinclair, he wasn't as fine tuned in each area as his "siblings" were), he charged fireballs in his hands as the other pyros followed suit. From out of a time vortex stepped Walternate, smiling. He held a small device in his hand. He pushed a red button as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Ahhhh!" Olive screamed, blood streaming down her nose.

"My, my... she _is_ sensitive to space and time, isn't she?" Walternate mused. "Tut, tut. Put those fireballs away. I'm not here to fight."

"What do you want!?" William Bell demanded. He could see his kids were all tense and scared. Although they had trained for almost two years, being in Walternate's actual presence was terrifying.

"That... that machine... there's something..." Olive started.

Sinclair sniffed. "It's very bad..."

Nodding, Charlie turned to William. "It is giving off some weird time distortions..."

"You trained them all so well!" Walternate said tauntingly. "Shame it was for nothing. Yes, you see while I had my world's government work on machines and armies to take you out, it was all a part of my illusion. My magic show! You were all so focused on what was happening in my left hand that you missed what the right hand was doing."

"What is that device!?" Walter demanded.

Walternate's face changed from one of amusement to one of hate. " _You_. You don't _ever_ address me! You are the scum of the multiverse! You will burn for what you've done!"

"Answer the question!" Sinclair demanded.

Walternate narrowed his eyes and stared at Sinclair. "You... you are quite the anomaly. I hoped to have you figured out by now, but... oh, well! It won't matter! You see, I have brought Doomsday to you all."

"What!?" Was the word many kids yelled as they panicked.

"Yes, yes... You see, this device will deteriorate the... how can I describe it for you all to understand? Hmm... Let's say 'atmosphere' or even 'membrane' which surrounds your entire universe. You see, I've been studying the multiverse as well with my upgraded Dimension Jumper. The multiverse is a giant sea of universes that float in an expanse I have named the 'Nothingness'. The membrane around the universes protect equilibrium from causing the order of the universe to be engulfed by the Nothingness' pure chaos. Think of someone opening a window in an airplane or a hatch of a space station if you want a more... vivid explanation. This device in my hand? It's named Doomsday. It is the window to your airplane, and I just opened it."

"You monster!" Alan screamed, electricity shooting at Walternate. A force field appeared around Walternate, protecting him.

Little Simon turned to William, tears streaming down his face. "I just read his mind... I've seen all of his research. He's... he's telling the truth, Dad! It's all _true_!"

Julie, the other mind reader, had looked into Walternate's mind but with a different goal. "You are hurting so much... I am so sorry. This, though? This won't make Peter love you..."

Walternate sneered. "He won't have a choice after this! You all will lose everything, just like I did! And even if he won't love me, at least I will bring him back to his true home!"

"You have made a mistake..." Sinclair said, shaking his head.

"What, you fool boy!?" Walternate spat.

"Due to William here, and also you, crossing back and forth between our worlds constantly, using second rate traveling gear... You have deteriorated the wall separating the two universes. The Prime and Alternate Universes are linked. Whatever is going to bleed into this universe from the Nothingness will eventually bleed into yours. You've brought doom to your world as well."

"We have to stop it!" Olive screamed.

Angry for not having foreseen that bit of information, Walternate vanished back to his universe. As he did, William Bell dropped to his seat, shaking. "Can... Can we stop it...?"

Sinclair began thinking. Thinking as hard as he could. He had never used his brain as he was at that moment. He then stopped. "I can't reverse it, but... Right there. The 'window' was opened where Walternate stood. He... The energy is lingering from there. If I focus, I can reverse it and cause it to deteriorate the Alternate Universe first. Eventually it will creep into here, but it won't be for many centuries..."

"I've destroyed four timelines now..." William Bell lamented outloud. "Dystopia, Utopia... now Prime and Alternate..."

"What you did was an accident!" Lincoln proclaimed. "What Walternate has done is purposeful!"

Sinclair walked over to the area. He suddenly began glowing as he tapped into every field of power he could, trying to act as a sort of conduit for the energy Walternate had used to open the Prime Universe up to the Nothingness.

"No!" Julie screamed, reading Sinclair's mind. "He's doing it!"

"Sinclair! Stop!" Walter screamed, rushing to him.

"I'll be back! Don't worry!" Sinclair yelled as he vanished into a Time Vortex he created, sending him to the Alternate Universe.

"Olive!" William shouted. "Pinpoint the Alternate Universe and take me to Sinclair. I'm bringing him back. He may be too weak on his own!"

Tears formed in Olive's eyes. "I... I can't! I... I can't feel the Alternate Universe at all!"

Charlie panicked. "I can't feel it, either!"

William bolted out of his chair and ran downstairs to his Dimension Jumper, which he kept in a room he called his "bunker". He turned it on as the kids and Walter rushed in after him. All he could see was static.

"No..." William cried out. "It's not there. No frequency at all... They're gone."

"Sinclair's sacrifice must have channeled enough energy to instantly destroy the Alternate Universe..." Walter concluded.

"All of those innocent people," Timothy said sadly.

"And Sinclair. He sacrificed himself for us," Walter remarked with remorse as well.

William Bell nodded. "Yes. He saved our universe."

. . .

 _ **Alternate Universe**_

Walternate watched with satisfaction through his upgraded Dimension Jumper the assumptions those in the Prime Universe had been making. His machinery had picked up Sinclair's entrance to his timeline and had registered that he had brought with him the effects of the Doomsday Device. One of those effects was massive amounts of interference, making the Alternate Universe basically invisible to the antiquated devices William Bell and Walter Bishop used. Knowing he was not known and had suddenly gained the element of surprise, Walternate turned and looked down at the unconscious body of Sinclair at his feet.

"You are _extremely_ powerful," Walternate said to himself about Sinclair. "I must study you while you are in that coma... while I do that? Well, I suppose continuing my revenge is appropriate..."

. . .

 ** _165 Million BC (1 BLC [Before Lothor's Collapse]) - Nathadian Universe_**

Laguna sat back as the vision ended. "Why did you end it? Why not jump back to the Freelancers rushing to find Walter if that story just ends there?"

"Because it gets long and drawn out," September stated. "It is easier for me to simply explain it to you than expend more of my energies recreating the events with my powers. Sinclair is taken into Walternate's labs and monitored. Meanwhile, Walternate sneaks into Prime Universe and informs the government of the Cortexiphan project, to make sure the Prime Universe has no organized force to fight him. Thinking the need for war is over, William and Walter see they can let the kids go on to have normal lives and switch their last dose of Cortexiphan with a drug that puts them all to sleep. As they sleep, Walter and William go through and basically erase their minds of the time they spent together. They felt it best to not have their minds scarred with atrocities of training for war before they were in high school."

Laguna shook his head. "That's pretty sad. Especially since they played right into Walternate's plans."

"Yes," September said. "A massive court case began, and Bell fought back because he needed his resources to try and fight the impending Doomsday Walternate had caused to eventually destroy the Prime Universe. During that time, Walternate returned to drugging Walter and caused his mind to get worse than it had been. Walter was found to be too senile for trial and sent to a home. Walternate then impersonated Walter and created a clause that stated the only way for him to be released from the home would be if Peter was the one to bring him home."

"Devious man he is..." Laguna commented.

"During that time, Walternate had made too much of a blip and got caught on one of William's devices while he was studying the effects of Doomsday, after getting out of jail on bail. He found Walternate's signal coming from Walter's home and figured out what Walternate had done, though he knew not why his instruments were not finding traces of the Alternate Universe.

"He took all of his evidence to the leader of the FBI, a man named Phillip Broyles. After showing it was possible to crossover, going on faith that he would land in the Alternate Universe since he had not known if it was possible, the FBI believed him and made up an excuse for why Bell and Bishop would have all charges dropped, lying about a technicality in reading their Miranda Rights and not having a search warrant.

"Bell became a secret agent for the FBI, but was found out one day by Walternate. Walternate had by that point greatly surpassed William's tech and created a firewall, stopping him from travelling back and forth any longer. Bell had been trapped in the Alternate Universe."

Laguna snapped his fingers. "Ah! And that's why Bell could only speak to Olivia through hologram when I was first introduced to her. Got it!"

"Yes," September replied.

"And what about Sinclair? I don't understand how he ended up... how he did," Laguna asked.

"That is something best shown." September said, placing his hands once again on Laguna's head.

. . .

 _ **Fourteen Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Alternate Universe**_

Sinclair's eyes fluttered open. "Hello?"

Walternate smiled. His computer predicted the Metahuman would awaken soon, and he was waiting. "Hello, Sinclair. Brother."

"So... You found out." Sinclair stated calmly as he sat up. He looked around and felt his body. Within a few moments he was able to calculate that he had been in a coma for roughly four years.

"Yes. The name plus some blood tests told me what I needed to know. I then found father's journal and used the Wall Machine to go to the Underground Lab," Walternate explained.

"I can feel this universe dying," Sinclair stated. "We still won..."

" _We_?" Walternate asked. "You still siding with them, even after they left you here to die?"

Reading Walternate's mind, Sinclair scoffed. "They think I died along with this universe."

"Not William. He knows this universe is still alive," Walternate replied.

"Yes, but..." Sinclair started. He stopped himself, lost in thought.

"Yet, he hasn't moved a finger to find you. If he truly cared about you, wouldn't he have attempted to find you? If you meant something to him, wouldn't you think he would have thought, 'If the Alternate Universe is still there, then I must find out if Sinclair lives!?'"

"He was busy with the trial you caused him to go through," Sinclair retorted.

"So?" Walternate asked simply. "Me, however? I'm here. Your real brother. Help me right the wrong done to me."

Sinclair suddenly felt hurt. Anger bubbled inside him. He could not comprehend how someone who had professed such love for him wouldn't have exhausted himself to find the one for who he expressed love. He could see from Walternate's mind that William Bell had truly not lifted one finger to ensure whether or not Sinclair had perished.

"You are a selfish, selfish man Walter," Sinclair stated. "But... You are loyal to your word and to your family. We were both hurt and wronged. And the people of this universe are relatively innocent compared to the... _other_ universe."

Walternate smiled, knowing his tactics had worked in changing Sinclair's mind. In getting him to corrupt his own mindset to fit into Walternate's machinations.

"If any universe should have a guaranteed fall it should be theirs, not ours." Sinclair said as he stood up. "I will tell you how we created Cortexiphan. We will create our own army of Cortexiphan users. They will be the same people who I used in the Prime Universe, because I know them and trust them. They are family to me. We will train them up and when they are ready, then is the time we will attack Walter Bishop and get _our_ revenge."

"How long?" Walternate asked, sensing the timeline for such a task would be long.

"Very long. Many, many years. The Cortexiphan will ensure our army will not age, though. Also, we can create others like me from petri dish children," Sinclair stated.

"That's brilliant," Walternate exclaimed in awe. "But I am old... I want my revenge, brother."

"As for that, I suppose we can create some bionics to extend your life..." Sinclair said.

Walternate smiled. "Perfect. Supremely perfect!"

"Yes. Everything I do from here on out will be _supreme_."

. . .

 _ **Twenty Years After William Bell Time Travelled - Prime Universe**_

Feuxlivia, the Olivia Dunham from the future of the Alternate Universe, looked to Link. "We can't let that maniac twin of the President get away with the Beacon. These people in this universe are insane and violent."

"Yeah, yeah..." Link said nodding. "I know the drill: the Freelancers help the Watchers ensure a pure future, untainted by people like William Bell. All for the Pattern!"

"Except for when Watchers go bad..." Charlie said darkly as they walked out of Walter's lab, Charlie sniffing to see if he could pick up on any trace of the Beacon or the Rogue Watcher, Prime.

"That's really creepy, by the way..." Link said as he followed behind Feuxlivia and Charlie. "I mean, at random Watchers that are created may get a malfunctioning DNA sequence that gives them freedom of choice..."

Feuxlivia nodded. "Yeah... just our luck the spirit guiding this Rogue is an evil one. Any luck, Chuck?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not yet. But don't worry... I'll get it."

"And when we do..." Link said. "They'll wish they never met us."

. . .

Walter, Olivia, and Peter rushed the Prime Universe's version of Sinclair from the area Robert Bishop had left him. The boy, tapping into his instincts, grabbed Peter by the throat and threw him to the side.

"Wait!" Olivia cried out, dropping to her knees and putting arms in the air.

"He has no understanding of language, dear Olive." Walter said, smiling. "Um... Sinclair... You, Sinclair. Me, Walter."

Being slightly more intelligent as a baseline than his Alternate counterpart (due to staying in the room for an extra sixteen years), Sinclair caught on quickly. He then pointed to Olivia and waited.

"Olivia," She replied, Walter waving for her to speak.

"Puh... Peter..." Peter coughed as he limped over. "Peter."

Walter put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Family!" He then ran over to Sinclair and did the same.

"What are we doing!?" Olivia demanded. "That's great that we were able to get this boy out of a horrible science experiment, but... What does this have to do with saving the world!?"

Sinclair stepped forward and furrowed his brow. He placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder, just as Walter had done to him. As he did, electricity began coursing between the two of them.

"What's happening!?" Olivia demanded.

"Get away from him!" Peter screamed as he dived to tackle Sinclair.

Diving himself to stop Peter, Walter yelled: "No! He's activating her powers! They're interacting!"

As all four of them were touching, they disappeared from the Underground Lab in a flash. Suddenly, they were standing outside her car in front of Walter's home. The portal leading from the Alternate Universe's future was still open overhead and ships zoomed through the sky.

"How did I do that!?" Olivia demanded.

"Do what?" Walter asked, confused as he stared at the portal. "And what is that doing up there? Did someone turn on a Beacon!?"

"Agent Dunham!" Someone screamed. Turning, Olivia saw a man she barely knew from her department at the FBI.

"Agent Lee?" Olivia asked, confused.

Breathing hard and rushing over to her, Agent Lincoln Lee nodded. "Yeah. I rushed over her as fast as I could... Broyles assigned me to find you and Agent Francis. Where is he!? And what are these ships in the sky!? What has William Bell gotten us into!?"

Olivia shook her head. "Agent Francis didn't make it..."

"What!?" Lincoln cried out. "That's... Oh, no..."

"And these dudes in the ships are from another dimension," Peter said. "They're here to kill us all because of that doo-dad Walter over there turned on."

"I did that...?" Walter asked, confused as he picked up the Beacon that happened to follow them from the Underground Lab.

"Well, these things haven't done anything but fly around up until now. So let's get out of here!" Lincoln yelled.

Sinclair stepped forward. He pointed at Lincoln and then looked at Walter. "Family?"

"He asked a question!" Walter cried out happily. "Oh, he's figuring out how language works. He is brilliant!"

"What's his name?" Lincoln asked as he and the four rushed into an alley nearby.

"Sinclair," The child answered.

"So bright!" Walter exclaimed.

"Shut it, Walter." Peter said as they hid behind a dumpster. "Where in the world are we going? And are we not going to address you teleporting us around?"

"Is this from the drugs you talked about, Walter!?" Olivia demanded.

"Oh, yes... You and Lincoln here were great during the trials," Walter replied. "I sure miss those days..."

Lincoln's eyes widened. "Wait... what?"

Suddenly, a Time Vortex opened up. From out of it stepped Feuxlivia, Link, and Charlie.

"Agent Francis!?" Lincoln gasped in relief. "It's so great to see you! Agent Dunham said... Oh, boy..." He turned pale as he saw Feuxlivia's face and also the face of his Temporal Twin.

Link smirked at his Temporal Twin. "'Oh, boy' is right. Geez, he still wears glasses. He must have stopped taking the drug."

"You look nice as a nerd. Kinda cute." Feuxlivia said, pointing her gun at the lot of them. "Now hand over the Beacon. _Now_."

"We're dead either way..." Peter said, weighing his options.

"Wait... Look!" Charlie said, pointing at Sinclair. "They stole a developing Watcher!"

"They must have used the Beacon to travel to HQ..." Feuxlivia deduced. "You guys should be executed right now. You're a bunch of animals."

"No!" Walter demanded. "He is my brother! He is not an abomination like those you know! Walternate told me about your 'Watchers' when he would torture me! This boy here is not manufactured!"

"Now that's one tall tale." Charlie replied, pointing a gun at Walter. "Step away from the Watcher and hand him over. We want the man named Peter and the Beacon, too."

Sinclair looked at those around him. Suddenly, as he focused on them he began hearing and seeing their thoughts. Their language became clear to him and he realized they were both groups of people trying to do what they thought was right. He closed his eyes and shot a blast of electricity at the Freelancers.

"Whoa!" Peter cried out.

Sinclair grabbed the Beacon and handed it to Walter. "Run. I can stop them."

"No!" Olivia cried out, bending over and looking Sinclair in the eyes. "We won't just leave you here!"

Sinclair shook his head. "You aren't powerful enough. They will kill you. They think you are bad."

"Come with us!" Olivia demanded.

"No." Sinclair said, sensing the Freelancers readjusting themselves and beginning to stand again. "I just want to help."

He then turned and began shooting balls of electric energy at the three Freelancers.

"He can handle himself!" Peter cried out. "Now let's go!"

Walter ran after Lincoln, Olivia, and Peter as he held the Beacon. Before they got very far, they found themselves facing the Rogue Watcher, Prime.

"Give me the Beacon," Prime demanded. "I need it to conquer the multiverse."

"Oh, that's all?" Peter said, smirking. "Why didn't you say so!?"

"Give it to me... Now!" Prime demanded.

"Run back!" Olivia said, sprinting back to where Sinclair was fighting the Freelancers.

"What are you doing back?" Sinclair asked as he shot a fireball at Charlie, confused.

Olivia bent over and smiled. "I just want to help."

Sinclair stared at her for a moment, processing the phrase Olivia had just uttered. Hearing what he had said moments earlier repeated back to him struck a chord within him. He then watched as she pulled out her gun and began shooting at her Temporal Twin.

"Get with the teleporting!" Peter demanded.

"What teleporting!?" Lincoln cried out, shooting at Prime and growing very scared as the Rogue Watcher caught each bullet.

Sinclair sighed. He knew the moment he relaxed that he wouldn't be able to defend himself from the excellent aim Feuxlivia had, but he had felt some sort of kinship to those who had saved him from a world of monotony. The people who came back and began helping him.

Seeing Prime (and finding that he could sense an odd connection to him), Sinclair shot a blast of power at him and turned and grabbed both Walter and Olivia by the shoulder. "Think of the safest place you can..."

"Huh?" Olivia asked.

"Well, I suppose my own pocket universe in the Nothingness would do," Walter said happily.

Olivia suddenly began to glow. As she did, so did Sinclair and the Beacon. As Sinclair channeled energy into Olivia, he was shot in the back with a stun beam by Feuxlivia. Within an instant after that, they were all gone as Sinclair fell to the ground, unconscious.

"No!" Prime yelled. He tapped into the Speed Force and bolted out of the alley.

"Drat!" Charlie yelled as he threw his gun. "They all got away!"

"Don't worry..." Link said. "At least they didn't get the Watcher."

"What happened to this one!?" Feuxlivia demanded. "I've never seen one use _our_ powers. He seemed to have them all!"

"Yeah. They must have done something to him," Link replied. "Let's take him back and have him Recycled."

"Um... we gotta go _now_!" Charlie yelled.

"Huh?" Link asked.

"Olivia! _Nooooow_!" Charlie screamed. He felt something _very_ wrong happening with the Prime Universe. Very, very wrong.

. . .

 _ **Alternate Universe**_

The man known as the Supreme (Future Alternate Sinclair, who helped William Bell and Walter Bishop create the Cortexiphan drug) sat on his command chair. As he did, the President (Future Walternate) walked in.

"Walter and my boy escaped with two former Cortexiphan Kids: Olivia Dunham and Lincoln Lee," The President reported.

The Supreme smiled a bit. He was fond of those with who he had lived with eons earlier, and a part of him was glad they were giving a good fight. It was a good bit of nostalgia seeing them back the way they were around the same time he had once known them. "Where are they now?"

"They had the Beacon with them and Walter figured out how to use it to create a pocket dimension in the Nothingness. They're untraceable," The President said.

Supreme looked at the hollow shell the President was. After all of the bionics had been implanted to keep him alive he had become nothing more than a puppet for the Supreme, living with only the shadows of the anger he used to feel for Walter Bishop. His emotions were nothing more than him doing what he remembered he should do, but with no real emotion. The Supreme was getting quite bored with him.

"Well, I suppose we just move ahead with our plans of merging the Prime and Alternate Universes of the past then. It will be a good base for us until we find a permanent home," The Supreme stated.

"No, my brother," The President replied. "We cannot. The surge of power from the Beacon interacted with our portal from our Time to the past of the Prime Universe. It completely wiped the Prime Universe from the Space-Time continuum. Past, present, and future are gone. The Prime Universe was destroyed."

The Supreme frowned. "That was not a part of the plans... Incompetence! I demand that you bring me right now William Bell, my past self, and your past self... unless your bumbling destroyed the past of our universe, too!"

"They will be here shortly." The President said as he teleported out. Within a matter of moments, a confused Walternate and Alternate Sinclair stood in the Supreme's throne room. After another moment, the President appeared with William Bell.

"Bell," Alternate Sinclair sneered. His nephew's carelessness was still fresh in his mind.

Bell stared at him in awe. He looked only slightly different than the last time he had seen him. He looked like a teenager. "Sinclair... It's true..."

"Hello, William." The Supreme said, stepping down from his chair and down some steps. "It has been too long."

"You're the future Sinclair, aren't you?" William said, face dimming. "You call yourself... what again?"

"The Supreme, correct?" Alternate Sinclair asked.

"Correct, past me," Supreme said. "Now, I have brought you lot here to tell you something... the Prime Universe is no more."

"What?" Walternate choked, first thought being his revenge gone (followed closely behind by mourning Peter).

"Do not worry," Supreme said. "Peter and Walter escaped. We are trying to find them as we speak."

"I don't believe you!" William screamed.

Supreme stepped forward and placed a hand on William's head. An image flashed in William's mind from the Supreme, confirming what he had said.

"No... It's true..." William gasped, falling to his knees.

"Unfortunately, the past of my timeline will suffer the same fate. If my calculations are correct, it will only be a matter of days before the past of my timeline is also erased," Supreme explained to the crew of Temporal Twins in his command room.

"Then we're all doomed!" Walternate cried out.

"No," The President stated. "We have developed tech that protects our timeline. We call it Time Barrier Tech. We can change the past all we want and it will not affect our future. It exists independent of our past now."

"Let me demonstrate," Supreme said. He stepped forward and tapped into the Speed Force. He vibrated his hand extremely quickly and placed it into Alternate Sinclair's head, scrambling his brain and instantly killing him.

"No! Sinclair! You monster!" William cried out.

Supreme sneered. "If you truly cared about him, _me_ , you would have come looking for me!"

"I thought you died when you sacrificed yourself and we lost contact with the Alternate Universe!" William argued.

"But once you found out the Alternate Universe was still around, you should have come looking for me!" Supreme yelled, walking over to William and slapping him.

Blood trickled down William's lip. "The thought never crossed my mind. I had just assumed you had died... I'm sorry..."

"If you loved me, you would have given me more thought!" Supreme yelled.

"All of this is my fault..." William proclaimed as he dropped to his knees. "If I had just been more thoughtful I could have prevented this. You only exist... my universe is gone... because I didn't think you may have survived...? That's... that's insane. I... I can't live on in such a universe where one small thing can balloon into something bigger than me. Please... kill me. I don't want to live anymore."

"You will die when you are able to see the culmination of your thoughtlessness," Supreme said. He then smiled as he looked to Walternate. "And you must be terrified that I'm going to end you as well. I mean, I don't need two of you."

"That's right," The President said. "We need only one of us."

Supreme walked over to the President and, vibrating his arm with his super speed, phased his hand through his robotic heart. A red light appeared in the President's eyes before the President fell to the floor dead.

"Wait... what?" Walternate gasped.

"Congratulations. You are now the President of our timeline," Supreme said. "You'll be more fun than that Cyborg was. You have real emotions. Now, get into your room. I will send you the relevant information to your computer so you can know what you need to know to be 'the President'. Now get to working before I end you."

Walternate swallowed hard and rushed out of the room. As he did, the Supreme chuckled as he heard Walternate ask someone to direct him to his room.

"Now what?" Bell asked, distraught.

"Well, we are still experiencing the effects of the Doomsday Virus in 'the future' from when I'm from," Supreme stated. "My plan right now is simple: dominate other universes. I see now how important power is, and I want more."

"That's it?" Bell asked.

"Yes. That's all. I have evolved a lot over the years, and although I have a lot of pleasure seeing you in pain after you abandoned me, in the end it's really more about gaining more power," Supreme explained. "If we don't try to get powerful, life is pointless, really."

William Bell smiled. "I once met a wise man who told me that there's nothing wrong with a little religion."

Supreme returned the smile. "Yes, the man you named Peter-Utopia. The man you promptly stabbed in the throat. This is all your doing, 'William Bell'. I'm going to make sure I keep you alive for a very, very long time. I have some research you'll be excited to see. I call it my 'Crisis Crunch'. I will compress all of the multiverse into a singularity so I can mold reality into my perfect future. In the end, I'll be finishing your goal: to create Utopia. You should be grateful you'll finally get to see it."

"No! Not like this!" William shouted. "This is wrong! So many will die!"

"Sacrifices I'm willing to make," Supreme stated. "And it will all start by me making one change at the dawn of each universe, overwriting the course the universe would have taken to fit my Pattern. Each universe will travel through the course I have prepared for it until it reaches what I have termed as its perfect future... it's Omega Future. According to the Pattern, each universe will hit this point at the same time (Time according to my perspective) and then... boom! Crisis Crunch. Billions upon billions of universes converging into the Utopia you wanted ever so badly, Bell."

Waves of guilt swept over Bell's body. "This is awful... I know I have sinned but this... this punishment is more than I can bear..."

"Too bad." Supreme said, smiling. "Now, I do want to keep things interesting. While my Watchers and Freelancers go about ensuring my Pattern is upheld, because I don't need other people like you, Bell, going about the timelines and messing with my plans, I'll occupy myself with a little game of chess."

"I'm not smart enough to play you, so don't waste your time," Bell said, feeling deflated.

Supreme laughed. "Oh, no! Not with you! You're a measly mortal. I'm a _god_. No, I need some excitement. A worthy adversary. What I need... is a wife."

. . .

 _ **Future Alternate Universe aka The Watcher's Universe**_

Captain Windmark stared at the unconscious boy he knew not was the Temporal Twin to the Supreme. "Interesting specimen. Obviously he did not finish growing before that fiend Walter took him from the laboratory."

August nodded. "Yes. His tests show that he is one of the special ones, though."

"Good, August. He will be inducted into the program to watch over the Pattern," Windmark replied. "We will Recycle him and give him his new codename. You will no longer be the newest recruit into this program. Title the protocol for this new Watcher to be: September."

Thus, William Bell's plan, one that the Supreme had not calculated since he was unable to see things about his powerful counterpart, began (unbeknownst to William Bell): the one being who could stop the Supreme was set into play, and he was going to prove to be much more of a rival than even the woman who was to be the Supreme's wife. Sinclair became September.

. . .

 ** _Walter's Pocket Dimension_**

"Huh?" Peter demanded. "Where the heck are we?"

"It looks like we're back in Walter's lab..." Olivia said, looking around.

Walter nodded. "Oh, yes. But it's not. I suppose that my brother helped use your powers, Olivia, with the Beacon and my mind to create this pocket universe in the Nothingness."

"Wait, what!?" Lincoln cried out. "We're in a what!?"

"This is stupid. I've had enough of this." Peter said as he went to the door. "I'll try my luck with our new overlords."

Opening the door, Peter saw nothing but a brick wall. He rushed to all of the windows to find the same thing in each of them.

"No use, my boy." Walter said as he happily began to rearrange his books. "You won't find a way out, because there is nowhere to go."

"Ugh! Are you serious!?" Peter cried out. "Now what!?"

"Now... now we find a way out of here," Olivia said. "And we find out from Walter what's really happening."

Walter picked up the Beacon and placed it on a table. "I will do the best I can to tell you what I know, but... I don't know. I think my brain is broken."

Lincoln sighed as he plopped onto a chair. "I really can't believe this. I must have done some very bad things in my life..."

"Hello?" A female voice said from a back room. "Hello?"

"Who's there!?" Olivia shouted, pulling out her gun.

A woman walked out of the back. She seemed very frightened. "My name is Astrid... I'm a nurse and I somehow appeared... here. I'm very scared and confused."

Walter clapped happily. "Oh, good! Fantastic! I wondered if Sinclair would have been able to squeeze in that favor..."

"Walter!?" Astrid gasped.

"Everyone? This is my favorite nurse from my home. She has a brilliant mind, but she keeps limiting herself. Her name is Astrid," Walter declared.

"Welcome to the looney bin." Peter said as he bowed.

"What am I doing here?" Astrid asked.

"Hi. I'm Agent Olivia Dunham from the FBI. I don't have all of the answers, but I hope to get them soon."

"She's going to try and interrogate me," Walter said happily.

"Well... Maybe it's good I'm here then," Astrid said. "I guess I can help you talk to him. I know him fairly well and I can try to keep him more lucid than normal..."

Olivia smiled and thanked her. Turning to Walter, she said, "Okay, Walter. Start from the beginning."

Walter nodded and sat down. "Okay, well... it started a long time ago in a different world. From what I remember, a future version of you, Peter, was feeling depressed one day when he found a machine..."

Peter cocked an eyebrow. "You best start getting him lucid, Astrid."

Astrid shook her head. "I... I think he _is_ lucid..."

Lincoln spun around and looked at Peter in his swivel chair. "Just go with it. We're obviously not going anywhere..."

Olivia nodded. "Please. Continue."

"Well, Peter lived in a place he called a Dystopia. One day he found a device, though, that would change his life forever. A device that led him to a Utopia... And that eventually led him to me."


	2. Story 2: The Nathadians

**The Nathadians**

 _ **1 BLC - Nathadian Universe**_

Laguna jerked back. "What next!?"

"That is all you need to know," September said. "And all I can sense. My friends, Walter and those with him, are lost in the Nothingness. Not even the powers the Supreme has can track them."

"I'm so sorry, man!" Laguna lamented. "I'm sure you'll find them someday."

"I can only hope..." September replied.

"Well... Now what? You've messed with the Pattern here by interacting with me. Won't you be in trouble or something?" Laguna asked, concerned .

"I have the capacity of the Supreme, being created naturally like he was. My brothers who are Watchers are produced in a factory. They do not have the same potential as the Supreme, or myself. They were created to be inferior to Supreme so not one would defy him. That modification, though, is what makes the anomaly that creates Rogue Watchers, like Prime.

"Back to the point: because I have the potential of the Supreme, I hypothesize that I may be able to cover my tracks and outthink the other Wachters. Hopefully indefinitely," September told his new friend, Laguna.

"You're planning on doing more than just interacting with me, aren't you?" Laguna asked the new "Rogue" Watcher.

Nodding, September looked Laguna in the eyes. "There is an unknown force at work, but I feel it is going to just help the Pattern progress into something awful. Into the Crisis Crunch Supreme wants."

"How are you going to fight it?" Laguna asked. He then furrowed his brow. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I feel like that force has touched your universe. More than once," September explained. "In the kingdom you are apart of here, the court jester to King David Charming has been touched by this influence."

"The clown, Lothor?" Laguna asked, bewildered.

"Yes. I can feel he is meant to be some sort of harbinger of evil... of the evil your lab partner, Dr. Hojo, will bring," September replied.

"And this is why Hojo has been acting weird? This 'unknown force'?" Laguna said, trying to see if he was following.

"Correct. Lothor was... _inspired_ to steal King David's meditation throne, the Golden Platform. It is a vital piece in Hojo's plans. This group Lothor is creating called the Morphing Masters is also just a seed planted in his mind to get Hojo's plan up and running. Hojo, though, seems to have been corrupted by the Unknown Force while Lothor is only being guided. There is something... _living_ in Hojo," September explained.

"We have to stop him, then!" Laguna said, jumping up.

"No. Not you. Just me," September replied to the eager scientist. "You cannot hide from the Watchers. You are already in jeopardy. I must... hide you. Or they will destroy you and your family."

"What about Hojo and the Morphing Masters!?" Laguna protested.

"I appreciate your passion. You are a good man," September said. "The plans are already underway with him. He has already left this facility to meet with Lothor. I will do what I can to interrupt the Unknown Force's plans with Hojo. I will need you in play, though."

"'In play'?" Laguna questioned.

"I am going to influence Lothor to steal Hojo's plans," September explained. "It should start a chain reaction of events that will cause Lothor to retreat to Universe M54331Z."

Laguna watched as September walked to a chalkboard. He then gasped as September tapped into the Speed Force (a grid of power which can generate enough power when tapped into it correctly to allow a being to move faster than light) and drew an amazing diagram on the board.

Stepping back, September pointed to the diagram. "This is the schematic for a Dimension Jumper. Follow these instructions and it will take you to a universe that I feel strongly will hold a strong destiny for your family. There you will be safe. It is the same universe Lothor will flee to. The imbalances in that universe will be enough to mask you from the Watchers. I plan that such an imbalance will eventually spread throughout the multiverse and eliminate the threat of Supreme's Pattern."

"That's great and all, but..." Laguna began. "My kingdom is in the middle of a war. Lothor is bringing people together who could potentially wipe our kingdom off the map. After teaming up with King Will and Queen Anastasia, I'm going to have no free time between both kingdoms running me ragged with demands for tech."

"That will not be a problem," September said. "According to my calculations from my pocket device, Prince Henry is about to start an incident that will change everything."

"Prince Henry!?" Laguna gasped. "Emma's son with the Dark One's son who she eloped with, Baelfire!? But he was destroyed by Witches!"

"No. He was kidnapped by the Witch, Regina," September revealed.

Laguna's eyes grew wide. "That's amazing!"

"Yes. Henry has been living with Regina for the past five years. He recently ran away from Regina and is a stowaway on a pirate ship run by a pirate named Killian. Regina will make herself known on the seas trying to regain Henry, breaking the treaty the Magic Nation has with your kingdom." September said.

"King David will flip out over that," Laguna surmised. "How will that help me, though? I would be even _more_ busy."

"No. Tensions will be high between the Charmings and the Grand Witch, Cora. David will declare war on the Magic Nation for breaking the treaty, to not look weak to Lothor and the Morphing Masters. Cora will react with a pre-emptive strike to defend Regina and ensure the Charmings do not know of Henry being yet alive. She will bomb this facility with massive magic. I will fake your death then so you can be free to work on this device. I will come to your home from time to time to help you. This device will need special Time Magic from me in order to function properly." September stated.

Laguna stepped forward. "Thank you so much, September. You're not only saving the universe, but specifically helping me. Just some guy. I owe you... everything."

"I hope it will be enough," September said. "Your destiny is already muddled to me because of our interactions. I can only do my best to ensure it happens the way I have envisioned it."

Laguna glanced at the board. "How long do I have to build it?"

"Less than one of your years," September told Laguna.

"Okay. I'd better get cracking," Laguna said.

"In the meantime, I am going to influence Lothor to betray Hojo. It should make Hojo a non-factor from here on out," September said. "The Unknown Force has the same limitation that the Supreme has: they cannot sense me. I should be fine."

As a Time Door opened, Laguna waved to September. "Good luck, man. I'll see you soon."

. . .

 _ **0 BLC - Nathadian Universe**_

Windmark, September, August, and December walked in through a Time Door. The four Watchers looked around at the chaos ensuing around the castle belonging to the Charmings. The Morphing Masters were battling the kingdoms belonging to the Charming Family (David and Mary) and also the Port Family (Will and Anastasia).

"I sense a Time distortion below the castle," Windmark said. "I will investigate it. It may be why this Timeline is so unpredictable at the moment. August? Watch Lothor and Hojo. They will be fighting soon. September? Watch the man known as Killian. December? Record the battle with these armies. I fear we will lose something since we cannot read Time here anymore."

 _No!_ September thought. _Laguna is under the castle activating the Dimension Jumper! But I can't do anything or Windmark will expose me... I can only hope Laguna can activate it in time..._

Stepping through a Time Door, September found himself staring at the pirate known as Killian. He was sneaking around. Reading his intentions using his tech and his own natural abilities, September saw he was looking for the boy named Henry. September saw that Regina had recently told Killian that she wanted to betray those with whom she was working, the Morphing Masters. She explained to him she was going to go along with their plans to destroy the universe, but then she would backstab them and take the invention Lothor had created: the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. She said that although the universe would end, she would use the powerful artifact to wish everyone back to life. What Killian knew not was that Regina was not planning on bringing back the Nathadian Universe, but to brainwash Henry into loving her unconditionally. She had ordered Killian to sneak into the castle where Henry was to get him for her.

"I found you!" Killian cried out as he opened a door and saw Henry.

Henry sat up in bed. He had an IV attached to his arm, having been injured in a battle accidentally by King David before the king had discovered Henry was alive and in Regina's castle. He wore a large smile on his face as he saw his good friend, the pirate.

"Killian!" Henry shouted. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"And I, you," Killian said, his hard pirate heart melting as he saw Henry. "Now come. We need to get out of here."

"No, I can't..." Henry said.

"If you haven't noticed, your castle is under attack." Killian said, laughing. "You may want to reconsider."

Henry brightened up. "But KIllian... my parents are here! My _real_ parents! Emma and Baelfire!"

Swallowing hard, Killian stared at Henry. "Your parents are the daughter of the Charmings and the son of the Dark One? Oh, Henry... I think I have a headache."

"Regina sent you, didn't she?" Henry asked.

"Aye."

"Well... Maybe I can get my grandfather to protect you!"

"The Dark One!? I'd rather not!"

"But he's reformed now!"

"Oh, yes... I'm sure he is. I'd rather take my chances with Regina, anyhow."

Then, before Killian could utter another word, Lothor and the Dark One appeared crashing through a wall, fighting. August appeared beside September, annotating the event. "Highly irregular, wouldn't you say, September?"

Staying as emotionless as he could, September nodded. "Yes, most irregular."

Killian had no idea what was happening. The two super powered beings were throwing punches and spells at each other without hesitation or consideration of their through and continuing their fight, they blasted several support structures as they waged their fight on away from the area.

"I must be off to record the fight." August said matter of factly as he walked through a Time Door.

Killian watched in horror as the building collapsed onto Henry. He tried to save the boy, but he was lost in the rubble. He pulled himself out of the mess and began clawing through the rubble, yelling out Henry's name as he sobbed. September watched as at that moment, Regina appeared.

"Where's Henry!?" She demanded.

"He's trapped in the rubble!" Killian cried out. "The Dark One and Lothor blasted the building and Henry..."

"What!? No!" Regina screamed as a shockwave of Black Magic erupted from her. She began to glow with Black Magic, Red Energy emanating from her as if she was ready to explode. With fury in her eyes, she looked down at Killian. An odd smile was suddenly on her face. "It's all fine! Yes... I can still fix this! All I need is the Greatest Treasure! I will make the universe right again. I... I was wrong to want Henry, Killian. I will restore the universe if you come with me, my darling. I will fix what I've done to Henry. I will fix _everything_ and even give him back to his true parents!"

September furrowed his brow. He could tell Regina was lying just to get Killian to go with her. She had a plan. She was planning on having Killian become a Morphing Master and help her bring Lothor down. She would then take the Greatest Treasure in the Universe for herself to have Henry by her side for all eternity as he brainwashed son.

Killian stood up and looked at her. "That is very noble of you. I can tell you truly love Henry."

"Yes... I do," She answered truthfully.

"Tell me how I can help," Killian implored.

"All in due time." Regina said as she charged herself with Black Magic before vanishing in a purple cloud of smoke.

"It is time to destroy you all!" Lothor screamed from a few yards away, causing September to turn around to watch. He saw both August and December watching the event.

"I will henceforth be known as the God of Magic!" Lothor screamed. He saw that he was at the end of the line and could no longer complete his work in the Nathadian Universe. He promptly tapped into the Universal Magic Grid and become the Demi-God of Magic.

The massive being floated above the fighters around him. Laughing, he began to hurl balls of pure Magic at them. Crowds of soldiers were obliterated as the Demi-God went on a rampage.  
"You can't do this!" The Dark One screamed. "I won't let you get away!"

"Are you going to help me, or save your grandson?" The Demi-God, Lothor, cackled.

"What do you know about Henry!?" The Dark One gasped.

"Only that he lies lifeless in the rubble of this castle!" The Demi-God replied, laughing. "I destroyed him!"

"Noooo!" The Queen, Mary, screamed as she, Will, Anastasia, David, Emma, Baelfire, and Belle made their way into the area.

"And now, I bid farewell!" Lothor cried out. He conjured up a Power Egg in his hand and cracked it open. A portal to Universe M54331Z appeared before him, just as September had predicted a year earlier.

 _I just wish I could have seen all of this beforehand..._ September lamented to himself. _Time got so unpredictable... I didn't see things getting_ _this_ _bad..._

"Come, Regina!" Demi-God Lothor cried out as he leapt into the portal.

"We must leave now," December said. "That portal is causing this universe to grow unstable. Everything will collapse."

"This universe will be destroyed," August concurred, opening a Time Door back to their universe.

"I will stay and record the last few moments," September said to the two departing Watchers. He turned and watched as Regina appeared before the crew.

"You all are pathetic!" Regina spat. "I win. Goodbye!"

Teleporting over to Killian, Regina said, "Now come with me into that portal my dear. I am on Lothor's good side. Together we can take the Greatest Treasure and fix all of this!"

Killian then watched as Regina handed him a locket. "Just hold onto this. It will cause you to be teleported to me when I'm ready to get you back. You understand that you cannot appear next to me and Lothor right now."

"Right..." Killian said. As he looked up, he saw Regina turn into a cloud of smoke and get sucked into the portal. He then watched as it began to churn and spark. He began to sneak towards it, to jump in undetected by those with King David.

"What do we do!?" David asked, clenching his fist.

"Henry... No..." Emma cried, falling to her knees as her husband, Baelfire, caught her. "We... We have to go after them. They can't get away with this!"

The Dark One nodded. He flicked his wrist and many of the pieces of equipment and tech in the area came together to create a makeshift ship. "They won't. Everyone onto this ship! We're following them!"

September sighed. He punched in a few keys on his pocket device and made himself visible to the Nathadians. "Rumplestiltskin... You will need my help."

"Who are _you_!?" The Dark One demanded.

"Someone wanting to help." September said, pointing his device at the portal. He shot a beam at it, causing it to grow more stable. "You don't have long. Jump in now!"

As September spoke with the Nathadians, Killian found his way to the portal. The roar of the portal was very loud, blocking his ears so that he could not hear what was being discussed. He looked over to the pile of rubble where Henry was buried one last time before leaping into the portal to Universe M54331Z.

"Why are you helping us?" David asked.

"Because you are good people. I feel that you can stop Lothor," September replied. "Now go! It's closing!"

The Rogue Watcher watched as they climbed into their "life raft" and the Dark One covered the ship in his Magic. Before long, the ship hovered into the air. With a final burst of Magic, it was thrust into the portal. As it entered, the portal grew unstable once again. Knowing he had little time left, September hurriedly ran into a Time Door and returned to his universe.

As he did, he closed his eyes. Focusing as hard as he could, his mind opened up to a vision of what had occurred with Laguna and his family, and saw whether or not they were able to escape the Nathadian Universe like Lothor, David, and the other Nathadians.

. . .

"Okay, Raine..." Laguna said, looking into her eyes. "Here we go."

"I'm afraid, Daddy..." Ellone whimpered.

"I know, I know. But listen..." Laguna told his frightened daughter. "Soon we will all be in a new place and we will be safe."

The girl looked to her right at their beloved family pet. "Can we bring Scruffy?"

Raine laughed. "Yes, we can bring Scruffy, Ellone."

At that, Scruffy ran to Ellone. He purred as he cuddled up to the girl, feeling she was not at ease.

"Okay, big guy." Laguna said, looking at Squall. "Come and help me push the button over here."

"I help, Daddy! I help!" Squall said happily. Laguna lifted him up and put his hand on Squall's. "Together", they pushed the button on September's machine.

The large machine sparked. From it, a blue and red swirling vortex emerged, becoming Purple Time Magic. Laguna straightened up, almost in reverence to the vortex. Raine took Squall from Laguna and rested her shoulder on Laguna's arm.

"Is this what Uncle September has helped you make, Daddy?" Ellone asked, staring at it in wonder.

"Yes. He said he figured out that this door would take us somewhere nice. A place where we could all have the best possible lives we could get." Laguna said, nodding.

"So we just walk in?" Raine asked.

Suddenly, the machine sparked. The vortex began disappearing. The family looked around and were surprised to see a man in a suit behind them, staring at them. He wore a calm look on his face. On his head there seemed to be no hair at all. He was obviously a Watcher.

"Interesting. You seemed to have created a Time Bubble around the machine," The man said. "I had a hard time getting to it, and even then I could not completely destroy it. Before I bring you in, you must tell me how you managed to create this thing."

Laguna had a look of terror on his face. "He is one of the men we were told about! Run, Raine!"

As Raine tucked Squall into her arms and began to run toward the portal, the Watcher pulled out a pocket device and pointed it at her. A blue bolt escaped from it. As it sailed to Raine, Laguna jumped in its way, taking the hit.

"Ahhh!" Laguna cried out, dropping to the ground.

"Daddy!" Ellone screamed. Scruffy leapt from her arms and jumped at the Watcher. He cocked his head and batted the animal away, causing it to skid across the floor toward the malfunctioning machine.

"Ellone! Run! I'll get you later!" Laguna ordered, hoping she would listen.

More concerned with Raine, the Watcher ran easily over to her with blinding speed and grabbed her by the shoulder as she got within three feet of the portal.

"Why run? You are disrupting the Pattern and I must stop you. Do not run," Windmark asked calmly.

Laguna then pulled himself up and pointed a gun he found under a nearby table at the Watcher and fired. In blinding speed, the Watcher turned and caught the laser beam in his hand, seemingly absorbing it. As he did this, Raine ripped free and tried to run to the portal once again.

The Watcher turned around and pushed her. She fell onto her back, as she spun to see what had happened, and cried out. The Watcher then looked at Laguna.

"I am Windmark, the lead Watcher. Surrender now and tell me your secrets."

"You'll destroy me if I tell you!" Laguna screamed, holding onto his ribcage as it ached in one hand and the gun in another. He quickly glanced around the room and was relieved not to see Ellone anywhere.

"I need to know how you learned to make this machine," Windmark said, not answering to Laguna's accusation.

"I'll tell you nothing!" Laguna spat.

"Unfortunate. I will have to force you to face the consequences of your silence, then," Windmark replied. Before Laguna could react, he pointed his pocket device at Laguna and shot him again. Raine screamed in horror as Laguna vanished before her eyes.

Raine's mind was racing at one hundred miles per hour as she pulled herself up to a sitting position. She could see the machine faltering. As Windmark turned to her, tears streaming down her face, she looked at Squall and said, "I love you!"

She then turned and tossed the two year old boy into the portal. She screamed in emotional anguish as she watched the portal swallow her son. As it did, due to it already malfunctioning, the portal began to heave and seize.

Scruffy, having watched Squall get thrown into the portal, roared. The young cub leapt in after Squall, intent on saving him. As that happened, the portal turned black before completely shutting down.

"That was foolish," Windmark said, unable to calculate where Squall had gone due to the various temporal forces erupting from the obliterated portal. "That will disrupt the Pattern greatly. To where was that portal programmed to go?"

Raine, hardly able to breathe as tears poured from her eyes, shook her head. She buried her face into her hands and continued to sob.

 _Oh, please... September help us!_ Raine cried out in her mind.

"You are sad that I took away your mate," Windmark deduced, finding it odd he was unable to read her thoughts. He knew not the fact that September was Supreme's Temporal Twin, and that the forces Supreme employed to keep himself masked from the Watchers also masked September.

Realizing Raine may be more willing to answer his questions if she was near her husband, Windmark nodded and said, "I will end your suffering."

Raine looked up in horror at Windmark as she saw him point his pocket device at her. Before she could scream, she was zapped. She could feel Time Magic running through her, through every facet of her being. For a moment, she could not breathe at all. The room began to spin before everything went black.

"I must figure out how to repair the damage..." Windmark said. He pushed a button on his device and walked through a Time Door. He then walked through it, planning on obtaining the answers to her questions.

Crawling out from under a nearby table (the same table Laguna had found his gun), Ellone was as pale as a sheet. "Mommy!? Daddy!? Squall!?" She then sat down in the middle of the floor and began sobbing.

 _They're all gone... Uncle September? Where are you!? Please help me!_ She yelled out in her mind, sadness and terror gripping her. After a few brief moments, a flash of white light erupted in the room.

"Ahhh!" Ellone screamed as she was blanketed in the white flash. For a brief moment she felt as if she was falling through a hole, completely ungrounded. Before long, she found herself once again on the floor of the lab.

"Huh?" She asked herself as she looked around. "What just happened?"

. . .

 _ **Future Alternate Universe aka Watcher Universe**_

September looked at his pocket device after receiving the awful vision as he stood in the Freelancer HQ with other Watchers. He tried several times to load the location for the Nathadian Universe but could not get a frequency. Although his gut was twisted in a huge knot of emotions, he knew he needed to keep his facial emotions in check, to not get his fellow Watchers thinking anything with him was amiss.

"It seems as if the Nathadian Universe is no more," December said.

"Indeed," September replied as hollowly as he could.

"We are getting some temporal vibrations from this universe here." August said, pointing at his pocket device. September looked at it and saw that it was a universe that had yet to receive a code name. It was Universe M54331Z.

"I will go," September said, realizing the disruption was Lothor, Regina, and Killian, as well as David and those chasing after the evil trio. His interference in the Nathadian Universe had kept them undetected to the Watchers so that David and those with him weren't captured, but he was aware of them still. "Keep me informed on how the deletion of the Nathadian Universe will affect the Pattern."

"Will do." December said as he and his fellow Watchers began to return to their work.

 _Now I must figure out a way to destroy the Pattern..._ September thought. _Although I was unable to save Laguna and his family, others will be destroyed if Supreme has his way. Lothor and his shenanigans could be enough to derail the Pattern._

At that thought, September began to calculate as best as he could how he could derail the Pattern. With members of the Nathadian Universe in Universe M54331Z, he knew he could disrupt the Pattern. His calculations, though, told him it wouldn't be enough. He would need another element to start a chain reaction of events that were too complicated even for Watcher Technology to predict. To make it happen, he would need too many Timelines interacting with each other. He would need unpredictable people, choosing for themselves. Focusing, his mind landed on one universe in particular: Universe L7V32X.

 _There seems to be a being there I can use. A budding scientist._ September thought. He looked up the universe in his pocket device and found the name of this scientist. A villain by the name of Mythical Master. Thinking quickly, September devised a plan.

Moving quicker than any other Watcher could, September zoomed forward and stole a wrist tech off of the closest Freelancer to him, an agent named Julie. Before she noticed, he opened a Time Door and ran through it to go the universe Mythical Master called home.

"Huh!?" Julie gasped as she looked down. "How is this possible!?"

"What?" Link asked, turning in his swivel chair at his desk to look at her.

"My wrist tech is gone!" She gasped.

Windmark cocked his head to the side, having overheard since he was still in the room. Focusing, he could feel that someone had recently tapped into the Speed Force and had then opened a Time Door. Opening his pocket device, he logged in as an administrator and saw that the Time Door had been opened up by September's device.

 _Have you become broken, September?_ Windmark asked himself. _Things are starting to line up. By my calculations, he may have been the one to corrupt the Nathadian Universe. I must investigate immediately._

Captain Windmark opened up a Time Door and went through it. The destination for the Time Door was Universe L7V32X, where September had gone to recruit Mythical Master. Windmark knew not what September's goals were, though. In fact, the more he focused on September, the more "concerned" he grew (though concern wasn't the right phrase for an emotionless being as Windmark). He could not read him. He had never tried to before since he had no reason to before that point, but at that point that he had decided to he realized there was something _different_ about September. Something... _powerful_.

As he stepped through the portal, he was once again _concerned_. He had not landed in L7V32X. He was... somewhere else. Standing before him was the Freelancer agent Future: Omega Ranger knew as Agent Chen.

"Hello, Captain Windmark," Chen said.

Windmark pointed his pocket device at Chen. "Who are you?"

"I am the Freelancer Agent Chen."

"There is no Freelancer by that name. How did you hijack my Time Door?" Windmark demanded.

Chen smirked. "There is a lot you don't know. I am not from the Freelancer agency you know. I do not work for the Supreme."

"Who is the Supreme?" Windmark asked, concerned.

"Concentrate..." Chen said. He then folded his arms across his chest. "He's the man who has been manipulating you since your creation."

"I..." Windmark began, straining to focus. "I can't. That name should mean something. I can feel it, but... How is there a Freelancer agency I do not know?"

"I will show you everything. You see, we _too_ hold true to a Pattern, but we don't do it for the Supreme. We do it for a being known as the Traveler," Chen explained.

"Why should I trust you, or this Traveler?" Windmark asked.

"Because he will free you from the clutches of the Supreme," Chen said. "We also have need of the Watcher known as September. He is doing things which the Traveler believes will help _our_ Pattern. You are very intelligent and have been able to see some of the truth behind September. If you follow me, you will be the first of your kind."

"First what?" Windmark asked, hesitant.

"The first Watcher to become one of our agents. The first Watcher to become one of our Freelancers," Chen answered.

"And what would I get from that?" Windmark inquired.

"Freedom from the Supreme, and a spot on the winning team," Chen said. "The Traveler offers all of us such great power. And also answers for the things you don't know."

"How do I accept?" Windmark asked, the fact he knew Supreme existed beginning to change his way of thinking.

Chen turned his back on Windmark. "By following me. I will take you to the Traveler right now."

As Chen walked forward, so did Windmark. He knew not where he was going, but he knew it would be the start of a new era in his existence. The start to a new Windmark.

. . .

 _ **165 Million BC - Universe L7V32X**_

September stood in the midst of a battlefield. He watched as Mythical Master flew through the field of battle on a contraption which appeared to make him look like a conductor. Before him was a metal table with various buttons, activating different weapons as he aimed them at a group of warriors who were tapping a field of energy they called the Transformation Field. A field September knew as the Morphing Grid. These warriors called themselves the Power Rangers.

"Agh!" Mythical Master screamed as a blast from the Red Ranger hit his flying platform, sending him spinning. Seeing his energy output was declining rapidly, he ran away back to his base.

"See ya later!" Red Ranger taunted. As he did, September moved through a Time Door to get to look at Mythical Master. As he did, he became visible.

"Those stupid Power Rangers!" Mythical Master screamed. "I'll rip them apart! I'll- huh!?"

Vibrating his face so that Mythical Master could not see any of his facial features, September made himself visible. "Mythical Master!"

The villain roared in anger. "Who are you!? How dare you invade my lair!?"

"My name is Prime," September lied, wanting to keep his identity secret. His voice was deep and otherworldly, changed by the vibrations in his throat. "I am a Rogue. I come from a group of beings known as Watchers. We watch the Timelines of the multiverse."

"... What do you want with me...?" Mythical Master asked, suddenly feeling Fear.

"I have branched off from my... 'brothers'. I plan on destroying their work. You have the type of potential I can use," September said. "I wish to give you this."

Mythical Master outstretched his hand to accept the wrist tech. "What... what is it?"

"A Time device," September said. "With it, you can travel to other universes. I have set it to the location I wish for you to go. That is where you will find great power. Enough for you to be able to defeat your rivals."

"Those cursed Power Rangers!" Mythical Master yelled, slamming his fist into the console deck on his hovering machine beside him.

"Yes. Now go to and do what I have commanded you to do," September ordered.

"Why should I trust you?" Mythical Master demanded suddenly.

September sprinted forward and punched Mythical Master, sending him flying. "Because I am capable of breaking you in half. If I wanted to, that is. I have my reasons for not crushing you like the insect you are. Now _go_!"

Mythical Master climbed to his feet, his face still hidden under his cloak. He slowly made his way to his flying contraption. "Yes... Yes I will, Prime."

September then decided to give Mythical Master a little more incentive, to feed his pride. Yet another lie. "Once you use that device, you will travel not only through Space, but also Time. You will change the Timeline of the universe you will be going to."

September waved his arm and caused the wrist tech to show a hologram of a small section of the multiverse. He pinpointed Universe M54331Z.

Mythical Master connected some wires to the wrist tech and began to look over the specs for that universe on his machinery. September was impressed with Mythical Master's technical genius, being able to connect his highly sophisticated equipment to a device lightyears ahead of any tech he had yet encountered.

"Amazing... the Transformation Field in that universe is brimming with amazing power!" Mythical Master proclaimed. "And _I_ will alter their already established history!?"

"Yes." September lied. Yes, he would alter that universe's history, but it had not been written in stone yet. Mythical Master only _thought_ he was going to Time travel.

"Excellent," Mythical Master said. He pushed a button and vanished into a Time Vortex.

As he did, September looked at his pocket device. He saw Mythical Master enter Universe M54331Z and become invisible to that Timeline. He watched as Mythical Master had landed exactly where he had wanted him to: near a battle against two warring brothers. One was the Alpha Demon Beelzebub. The other was the King of the Ethereals, Michael.

 _I only wonder what will become of_ _this_ _universe..._ September thought. As he did, his mind had a vision. He saw a second group of Power Rangers appear in that universe. They called themselves the Power Rangers: Frontier Recon. He then saw flashes of two other people. The names Yuna and Rikku came to mind. Then, sending his mind spiralling into a bout of confusion, he saw Laguna and Raine standing with Frontier Recon.

He hurriedly calculated the likelihood of that vision. It seemed to be fifty percent. The Time Anomaly was already in effect in Universe L7V32X. He was unable to fully calculate events, but for whatever reason he had seen Laguna and Raine.

Smiling to himself, hoping for a bright future for his good friend, Dr. Laguna Loire, September stepped into a Time Door to return to his Timeline. As he did, he got a message from Captain Windmark.

*A Jumper from Universe L7V32X has arrived in Universe M54331Z. You are being assigned there immediately*

. . .

 ** _8000 BC - Universe M54331 Timeline B_**

As The Guardian continued to speak with Zordon-B and Saba-B, September finished the hologram from the Time Crystal. He looked to those around him who he had just shared his origin story to: Tria-B, Zrin, Zordon-A, Burai-A, and Orion-A. Although he could not see him, he knew Auron, the Alpha Ranger, was listening from his home in the Inner Sanctum of the place they all called home: the Hall of Legends.

"Zordon's parents are alive!?" Tria-B yelped.

Zordon-A nodded. "We've already established that. Remember when I said that both my Temporal Twin, Zordon-B, and I both met up with them when Prime tried to do the crisis Crunch over one thousand years ago?"

Tria-B swallowed hard as she glanced at Zrin. She had forgotten that, but reminding her of that incident also reminded her of the secret she had been entrusted with: that Zrin was not Zordon-A's son, but Zordon-B's. "Oh, right... How could I forget? I mean, Prime's Crisis Crunch was so... _eventful_."

September perceived the secret that was being held in the group from Zrin. Deciding to cut the tension, he spoke. "So now you know who I am. Why I'm here. I am sorry for causing all of this, but you do understand that it is better than the alternative, correct? It is the only way to stop the Supreme."

Burai-A nodded. "You have sacrificed a lot. Thank you."

"But now what!?"" Orion-A demanded. "So we know some of why this is all going down. What are we going to do about it?"

September looked to Zrin. "Now we have to try and stop your mother from being destroyed in the Holy War."

Zrin smiled. "I hope that we can. But... she's not my actual mom. She's her 'Temporal Twin', like you call it."

September gave Tria-B and Zordon-A significant glances. It was meant to show them that he knew their secret, and he wanted them to know that. When he was certain they understood what he was doing, he smiled at Zrin. "Either way, I believe we can save her."

Tria-B smiled. "Thank you. I love my sister very much."

September nodded. "I know. Now, I'm not positive how to do it all exactly since the Time Anomaly is in full effect in this universe, but together I think we can do this."

Having finished with Zordon-B, who was recently trapped in his Time Warp, The Guardian approached the group. "Do what, September?"

September looked at The Guardian with a serious look on his face. "We're going to save Trinity's life."


	3. Story3:HolyWar:Different Perspective Pt1

**The Holy War: A Different Perspective Part One**

 _ **The Hall of Legends**_

September looked to the crew before him. Some were the last remnants of the original Timeline of Universe M54331Z. With the recent revelations they had learned from seeing into September's past, those survivors (Zordon-A, Burai-A, Orion-A, Auron the Alpha Ranger, and the Guardian) had learned that the commission they had been given to stop Ultimecia (a nasty villain from their Timeline, composed of three beings: the Alpha Nobody Xelleb-A, Bansheera-A's Nobody named Xearnsheab, and the Demon Lord Azazel) had come from a group of Freelancers working for someone who they knew not: a being known as the Traveler.

Having discovered that, they had been speaking for the past while about whether or not they had done the right thing in overwriting Timeline A with Timeline B and if stopping Ultimecia had been the right thing in general. The Traveler seemed to be concerned with defeating the Supreme, another Time altering foe from a distant universe, and if the Traveler wanted Ultimecia out of the way for that to occur, had they just played into the Traveler's plans? And how did this affect the Supreme? They had no answers for those things, and after some deliberation realized it was not the time to find the answers. They had something more important and immediately pressing to deal with: an event called the Holy War.

The two others who were residents of the Hall of Legends were from the current version of Universe M54331Z, that is to say its "Timeline B" as those in the Hall had decided to organize the Timelines. Those two were Tria-B and Zrin. Many in the Hall thought of Tria as Tria-"B" to distinguish her from her Temporal Twin, with whom the Timeline A crew were all good friends, though they never called her "Tria-B" to her face. She was the sister-in-law to Zordon-B, who married her sister (Trinity-B).

The other person from Timeline B was Zrin, the son of Zordon-B and Trinity-B and nephew to Tria-B. Zrin did not know that fact, unfortunately. After the events of a Rogue Watcher (the organization from which September came) named Prime attacking the multiverse, the child who rightfully belonged to Zordon-B was kidnapped by Zordon-A and raised (albeit at an accelerated rate for a time) by him. Zrin's father was thus Zordon-A, but not by birth.

Both of those people were very intent on stopping the Holy War. Tria-B so she could save her sister. Zrin so he could save who he thought was his mother's Temporal Twin, not knowing the drive to save her was actually a biological desire to save his birth mother.

"Currently, the Ethereal King Michael is holding Trinity in a cave on Earth." The Guardian said, opening up a hologram from a Time Crystal. "He is using a Power Card on her to trap her in a dream realm. There she seems to be meeting manifestations of important past events as foes. She does not know where she actually is, though, and thinks the manifestations are real. She is fighting them off, thinking she is protecting herself. In actuality, when she defeats one of the manifestations it opens up a part of her brain to Michael's Power Card. Once she has defeated the final powerful memory, the Power Card will have full access to her mind and give Michael complete control over her."

"Why is he doing this!?" Tria-B demanded.

"Michael is looking for a powerful person tapped into the Morphing Grid. He read in the Xenotome that it was one of the necessary ingredients for the Holy War, the event he believes will grant him the power to completely destroy all Demons and turn Beelzebub back into his brother Victor, so he is simply complying with those instructions," September explained.

"We have to stop him!" Zrin yelled, clenching his fist.

Sneering, Zordon-A nodded. His Trinity from Timeline A had been under mind control for thousands of years by his rival Yoral-A. It forced him to have to square off against her more times than he cared to recall. Remembering how her life ended at his hand after being tricked by Yoral-A, Zordon-A knew he could not let Michael do that to Trinity-B.

"We must stop this immediately," Zordon-A proclaimed.

"Not immediately," Alpha Ranger stated from the Inner Sanctum. "We need to finish searching every possible outcome that could come from saving her. We don't want to give any of the universe's villains an advantage to defeating the forces of good. We also don't want to give the Supreme or this Traveler person any advantages, either."

"We will call you all when September and I have finished analyzing the outcomes." Guardian said as both he and the Rogue Watcher began to study the Time Crystal.

Fuming, Zordon-A left the meeting room to pace down a hall that led to the Portal Foyer. He was furious with September and Guardian, forcing them all to sit and wait while Trinity-B got closer and closer to her own destruction.

 _I... I have to do something..._ Zordon-A thought. Clenching his jaw, the elderly man made his way to the equipment room in the Hall of Legends.

As he walked in, his eyes fell on the suits lined up against the wall. They were displayed as if he were in a museum looking at armor placed for an audience to view. There were five black suits (the suit for what Zrin had named the "Nathadian Ranger") and one prototype red suit. While the black suits of armor were designed to work in conjuction with Nathadian Magic, the red suit was being made to allow a user to use Zocato power.

The reasoning behind that new suit was to allow not one but _two_ fighters from the Hall of Legends to leave the Hall and fight simultaneously. Although they had five suits, it was only meant to have four reserves in case one got damaged. Those in the Hall only had enough energy to create one red Nathadian Gem which powered the suit. That gem was what protected those from Timeline A from being devoured by the energies of Timeline B.

Zordon-A sighed. He knew the Guardian was the only keeper of the Nathadian Gem. Without it, the Nathadian Ranger suit could only protect him for a short duration of time before his body would succumb to the enzyme-like properties Timeline B would have on his body from Timeline A. Disregarding that fact, he stepped forward and touched one of the Nathadian Ranger suits, causing it to appear on himself. He then pushed some buttons on the suit's forearm and activated a Time Vortex to go to the universe he had recently learned was called M54331Z.

. . .

 ** _8000 BC - Universe M54331Z Timeline B_**

In the forest near where Michael had set up camp, the Time Vortex opened. Out from it fell Nathadian Ranger Zordon-A. He gasped in pain as he clutched his chest, feeling the red gem's absence.

 _I don't care what the Guardian says... I will get Trinity out of there... This suit will keep me alive long enough to get to her._

He began making his way through the forest when suddenly a voice was heard in his helmet. "What are you doing!? Get back to the Hall of Legends immediately! You'll be destroyed without the gem!"

"That's your fault, Guardian. You should have given me the gem," Nathadian Zordon-A said.

"I told you I need to calculate the probability that something very bad will happen if you get Trinity now. Please, wait a little longer! Now that I have September here with all of us, it will be easier to calculate everything," The Guardian implored.

"Then you better hurry and calculate everything before I get to her," Nathadian Zordon-A countered.

"Do not do this, Nathadian Ranger!" Guardian shouted.

"Call me by my name!" Nathadian Zordon-A demanded.

"I... I can't... There are others listening and if they hear me reveal your name, your powers will begin to fade..." Guardian said. He could sense that the Future: Omega Ranger would be writing down that event in the file he knew not would be called "Part Three" to Sam's Origins Archives.

"What!? How is someone listening in!?" Nathadian Zordon-A demanded, breathing heavily as he struggled to push his way to the bottom of the mountain where Michael's cave was.

"It is a friend of mine... or a friend I will have... from the future. He is watching this. I will explain later. I just can't say your name because I know he is listening," Guardian said.

"Whatever, then," Nathadian Zordon-A muttered. He promptly began to climb up the side of the mountain.

"Nathadian Ranger... You will not survive that climb! Without that gem, this Timeline will deteriorate you! The suit is not enough to keep you alive!" Guardian yelled.

Nathadian Zordon-A scoffed, attempting his climb regardless of the warnings. "I... I can't let Trinity down..."

"You leave me no choice... I hope this doesn't majorly hurt our power supply," Guardian said.

Nathadian Zordon-A slipped and fell a few feet back down to the bottom of the mountain. He sighed and shook his head, grabbing his right arm after landing badly. "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, a Time Vortex opened up before him. From out of the vortex, Nathadian Zrin came out, the red gem glowing in the suit's chest slot.

"Guardian!? That is too dangerous!" Nathadian Zordon-A cried out.

Nathadian Zrin nodded. "We know it is... but what you are doing is also dangerous."

"So the Guardian sent my own son to come and get me!? How dare you try and stop me!" Nathadian Zordon-A protested, slamming his fist into the ground. Images of his final battle against Trinity-A and Timeline A's version of Amaradon Ranger flashed in his mind. He felt become racked with guilt, having destroyed the evil Trinity-A himself. He desperately wanted redemption.

"Trust me! Please, Dad!" Nathadian Zrin pleaded.

Nathadian Zordon-A nodded. He pulled himself up and made his way to his son. They both walked into the Time Vortex and vanished. Appearing back in the Hall, he demorphed.

"I know you're hurting, but we need to use our brains here. We can't make things worse. We can't afford to. Not with the Supreme and the Traveler wanting to get into power." Guardian explained to Zordon-A, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Then come up with a plan _now,_ " Zordon-A demanded.

At that, September stood up. "I believe I may have a plan."

He then walked over to Tria-B and placed a hand on her head. She staggered back as she "downloaded" the plan.

Tria-B looked at September angrily at first. She then relaxed and nodded. Future: Omega Ranger attempted to read the plan, but September masked it so only Tria-B had it.

"What about the rest of us?" Burai-A asked.

Tria-B shook her head. "It's better you don't know."

Guardian nodded. "I trust you. Tria? September? Tell us what to do."

Trapped in her nightmare, Trinity-B watched as the attack from the thing she knew not was an illusion of her morphed husband sailed to hit her. She grunted and tapped into her amulet, morphing as she did. She narrowly avoided the blast with a Ninja Streak.

"Hmph. Nathadian Conversion: Ninja Mode," Meledon Ranger said. Chain mail crawled up the sleeves of his arm. His red tiger saber inspired by his lifetime friend, Saba, grew a longer blade and thinner hilt. A black holster appeared on his back. Ninja Pink was shocked as Ninja Meledon streaked up to attack her.

In midair she was able to block a few blows before getting slashed across the chest. The attack was incredibly powerful. Sparks exploded from her suit by the contact before she slammed to the floor. Ninja Meledon landed softly mere feet away.

 _I... I can't beat him!_ She thought to herself.

You have to. Believe in yourself! Trinity of Courage declared.

Trinity of Heart was the next to speak. You must reason with him! He is your husband!

Snap out of it! None of this makes sense, does it? Trinity of Wisdom counseled.

"Wait..." Ninja Pink said. "Zordon would never do this to me."

"I _am_ Zordon!" Ninja Meledon cried out. He roared in anger and rushed forward to hit Ninja Pink.

"Photon Blast!" Ninja Pink shouted. A powerful light-based attack sprouted from her and hit Ninja Meledon head on. Although he kept on rushing forward, Ninja Pink continued unloading massive power into him. By the time he reached her, they had both demorphed: Zordon-B due to damage; Trinity-B due to being drained and exhausted.

"Who are you!? Deviot!? Darkonda!?" Trinity-B demanded, still unaware of the truth of her predicament. She grabbed "Zordon" by the collar and screamed into his face. He slowly began laughing as he disappeared in a mist of Nathadian power.

Suddenly, "Nathadian Ranger" appeared before her.

"What? _You're_ behind this?" Trinity-B asked in shock, recognizing the ranger from the time he saved both her and her husband from Deviot and the Bio Mech Rangers before Atlantis was destroyed.

Nathadian Ranger shook his head. "No, but you're starting to realize what is happening. I'm a visual representation of this realization."

"I don't understand..." Trinity-B said.

"Subconsciously you do," Nathadian Ranger said calmly. As he did, everything flooded into Trinity-B's mind.

"I'm... in my own thoughts?" Trinity-B asked.

"Yes. You are realizing that the spell Michael placed on you seems to be causing you to fight against visual representations of significant moments of your life. Yoral represents a time you felt betrayed, and also one when you made the wrong choice. Tria represents your feeling of shame about not being able to save her. Zordon represents the time in your life you felt he was so focused on saving the universe, he became a stranger to you. In your mind, you see him as all-powerful and could not think of a way for you to beat him. Since you knew this wasn't real on some deep level, instead of losing to Zordon, you began to consciously see what was really happening," Nathadian Ranger explained.

"What are you doing here, then? What do you represent?" Trinity-B asked.

"I represent a side effect of this spell. I am a memory stolen from you from long ago. I am your son, Zrin."

While Trinity-B faced this past memory, the King of the Ethereals stood over her body, still strapped to a chair. He patted her on the head as if she were his pet as he thought, _Yes. I can feel it. With every thought you defeat, you break down a wall to your mind. Soon, you and your Morphing powers will belong to me, and you were the one who destroyed your own defenses allowing me to do so._

As he thought these things, unseen by him, Nathadian Ranger Tria appeared from a Time Vortex outside the cave's entrance.

"I see her, Guardian," She reported to the Guardian.

"Okay... Remember, Michael is very powerful. The moment you step into that cave, he will know. Don't do anything to endanger Trinity," Guardian said.

Nathadian Tria sighed. "I would never do anythin' to hurt her... I'll get her out, I promise."

"May the Power protect you," Guardian said. He took in a deep breath and watched.

Nathadian Tria breathed in deeply as well and placed a foot inside the cave. Suddenly, Michael's wings sprouted from his back and he caused his mighty sword to appear in his hand. He pointed the blade at the entrance. "Who are you!?"

Nathadian Tria turned off the stealth shield. "I'm here for her! Prepare for a beatdown! Wat-watsaw!"

Nathadian Tria sprinted forward and swung a fist. Michael slashed with his sword, causing her to roll to the side.

"Sheesh... I sure am rusty! Watsaaaaw!" Nathadian Tria screamed, becoming a red blur and slamming into Michael.

Michael roared in anger due to the hit. "Whoever you are, prepare to meet your end!"

"Uh-oh..." Nathadian Tria said as, from out of Michael's sword, a massive beam of White Energy blasted out and blasted the heavily armored ranger. She fell down, stomach first.

"You're too late... Soon, this young girl will be mine, and you cannot stop me!" Michael yelled in triumph. He then lifted up his sword and swung down on Nathadian Tria's body. It sailed down and stabbed her. She had been able to move in Time, though, having the blade narrowly miss stabbing her in the chest. Instead, the blade sunk into her shoulder.

"Ahhh!" Nathadian Tria screamed. "Nathadian Blast!"

The red beam projected from her gem and blasted Michael hard. He flew backward and slammed into a cave wall.

Michael grunted as he stood up. "You can't save her!"

"I can and will! Meledon Conversion: Black Battery! Now, Orion!"

Suddenly, a Time Vortex opened up. From out of it, an armored ranger extremely similar to Nathadian Ranger appeared. Identical, in fact, except for two things: for one, the gem in the chest was black; second, the armor was red and not black.

Orion-A, in his ranger armor, cracked his neck. "Time to get to work!"

As he said this, Nathadian Tria morphed into the Black Energy mode. Just as it was with Zordon-B and previous battery modes, the suit changed colors to correspond with the energy the mode it was reflecting. Since it was Black Energy, the suit color looked the same. The armor around the suit, however, melted away, becoming a form fitting suit reminiscent of other Power Rangers. An upside down triangle with lines emanating from it, housed within a circle, appeared over Nathadian's red gem, as the insignia for the Black Battery Mode. The helmet disappeared from Nathadian Tria's head, with a black mask appearing over her eyes. Long brown hair flowed out, no longer suppressed by the helmet, but turned black to match the Black Energy.

"Nathadian Black Energy Blast!" Nathadian Tria declared. Massive orbs appeared on her hands. She then flung them at Michael, stunning his White Energy.

As he fell to a knee, Orion-A had a cloud of Zocato power appear around him. "Time to see what the Zocato Ranger can do!"

A Zocato blast shockwaved from him and beelined straight to Trinity-B. It wrapped itself around her and, being the Magic Virus that it was, broke the chains of the spell that kept her bound and trapped in her mind.

Michael laughed as he stood up. "Fools! I already told you that it's too late. Her mind is _mine_! Now, if you'll excuse me, I intercepted a transmission earlier from someone claiming there is an 'Angel Grove' here on this planet."

Without further ado, Michael shot Zocato Ranger with a White Energy Blast and flew past him, out the cave's mouth. As he flapped his majestic wings, he smiled to himself, thinking: _Everything is slowly falling into place, just as prophesied. It was said that the Holy War would take place in the 'grove of angels'. As I sat in the cave, I felt many long distance radio transmissions. What are the odds I intercept one speaking about a place here called "Angel Grove"!? Hehehe... Today is the day..._

Meanwhile back in the cave, as Nathadian Ranger: Death bent over to look at her sister who was still in a coma, Zocato Ranger folded his arms across his chest. "So... How is she?"

Nathadian: Death shook her head. "I have no clue. She should be awake already. I mean, I incapacitated Michael long enough to get him to disconnect from Trinity as you hit her with Zocato power... By the way, 'Zocato Ranger'? Really?"

Zocato Ranger shrugged. "Amaradon Ranger had already been taken. I didn't want to break up the naming scheme these rangers seem to have."

As he said this, Trinity-B's eyes suddenly opened. White Energy burst out from them and hit Nathadian Ranger: Death hard, throwing her back. The White Energy burned her Black Energy derived suit, causing Tria-B pain. Deciding it best, not only for her pain-wise but also for her reunion with Trinity-B, Tria-B demorphed.

Before Zocato Ranger could object to the decision, Tria-B stood up and said, "Trinity! Oh, how I've missed you!"

Trinity turned and looked at her as her eyes returned to their normal color. "I know of no Trinity. I now must go and serve my master."

To both their shock, Trinity-B rose up above the ground. Her signature Blaster Edge weapon appeared in her hand, but covered in feathers. Large, White Energy covered wings erupted from her back. Trinity-B then turned and blasted out at a blinding speed from the cave, en route to King Michael.

"What!? No! Trinity!" Tria-B screamed.

Zocato Ranger grabbed her by the shoulder and shook his head. "Tria! Are you crazy!? You can't stay here in this Timeline demorphed! It'll deteriorate you!"

Tria-B rolled her eyes. "No it won't. I'm not _your_ Tria, remember? This _is_ my Timeline!"

Zocato let go of her. "Oh, right..."

At this, Guardian chimed in. "Orion... Let Tria go. September and I have calculated some scenarios and because Tria is of this Timeline, her presence won't affect anything."

Zocato Ranger nodded. "Okay. Tria? Good luck and may the Power protect you."

Tria-B wore a determined look on her face. "I won't need luck. It's morphin' time!" Tria-B crouched and became the Nathadian Ranger once again. Nathadian magic began to course through her as she jumped up toward the cave entrance.

Reaching a good height, she screamed, "Nathadian Conversion: Speed Force!"

Her body began vibrating rapidly as she blasted away in what seemed like a bolt of lightning. Zocato Ranger sighed as he saw her disappear into the distance in a flash.

"Will she be okay, Guardian?" Zocato Ranger asked as a Time Vortex appeared before him.

Before he disappeared into it, Guardian Ranger said, "I hope so. The probabilities are not predicting a happy ending, though..."

"What!?" Orion-A yelled as he entered the Hall of Legends. "Not a happy ending!? Then what are we doing!? Just wasting our time!?"

"No, but... it's not what you think." The Guardian said as he turned to September. "I've been able to see some of the outcomes of this event. I believe I see the outcome you are trying to attain."

"It's the best of the probabilities, is it not?" September asked.

"I need to know!" Zrin demanded.

Zordon-A scoffed. "Don't bother, Zrin. They won't tell you a thing. They're as thick as thieves now with their secrets."

September narrowed his eyes at Zordon-A, anger burning in them. "You are no one to lecture others about _secrets_."

Sneering, Zordon-A nodded. "Fine. We'll just need to trust them."

"What!? Do you see what Trinity is going through!?" Zrin shouted.

Zordon-A slammed his fist into a wall beside him. "Of course I do! It's blasted Universal Equilibrium! She's going into battle as the same being _my_ Trinity was: Ethereal Trinity. As we speak Alpha is traveling with my Temporal Twin to 'Angel Grove'. A battle will ensue and unless this plan works, I'm guessing my Temporal Twin will somehow end Trinity-B's life."

Guardian sighed. "That is the end result with the highest probability. We are doing what we can to change it."

"Why?" Burai-A asked. "If that's the way things are supposed to happen then... why? We haven't interfered this much for anyone else. The Alliance Rangers were gutted and turned into the evil Cyborg Bio Mech team. My own _innocent_ Temporal Twin shared the same fate. Countless others have suffered as well. The Gaia Rangers were just destroyed save Doc. I mean... why are we doing this?"

September stepped forward and sighed. "I... I have reasons, but to protect certain information from those who can't yet hear it, you'll just have to trust me."

Realizing September was hinting that his plan had something to do with the secret of Zrin's real parentage, Burai-A nodded. "Then I trust you."

Zrin frowned. "Why do I feel like I'm being kept out of the loop of something more!?"

September shook his head. "We have other things to worry about now. Let us focus on your mother."

"My mother is gone! This is only a consolation prize!" Zrin protested, anger welling up in him as tears filled his eyes.

Zordon-A stepped forward and embraced his son. "Consolation prize or not, this is important. We'll save her."

Orion-A cracked his neck as began stretching. "Okay. Just give me the word and I'll jump back in."

Swiping his hand over a Time Crystal, the Guardian caused an image to appear. It was of Nathadian Tria-B sprinting as fast as she could to get to Angel Grove. She hoped she was not too late.

. . .

Continuing her pursuit of the new Ethereal Trinity, Nathadian Tria-B sprinted as fast as she could. Her mind was racing nearly as fast as he body was as it sped to Angel Grove.

We have to get there fast and be ready for whatever may be awaiting us! Tria of Courage told herself.

We also have to figure out how to break the spell... Added Tria of Heart.

We are so close to having our sister back. If the plan September gave us works, that is... Said Tria of Heart, semi-discouraged.

"Guardian? Can you tap me so I can hear what is going on in Angel Grove before I get there?" Nathadian Tria asked as she continued to run.

Suddenly, she heard Michael's voice tune into her audio system: "The Book of Prophecy solely says that the Holy War will end in the Grove of Angels. I asked the Xenotome what I should do, because the other half of the Holy War was... gone... and it gave me this."

"Michael pulled out a Black Power Card and is showing it to the monitor broadcasting Zordon from his Time Warp, Tria," The Guardian told her, since she could not see what was happening. "It is the card with mind control abilities that's making Trinity's mind belong to Michael."

"I am sorry, Michael, but..." Zordon-B began as he stood in the desert wasteland of his Time Warp, looking up at the rectangular hologram that showed Michael standing in Angel Grove beside Ethereal Trinity. "I just don't see how what you have said is irrefutable. The Book of Prophecy says the Holy War will end in Angel Grove, but it doesn't say it has to start, does it? If you decide to end everything here and now, would the war not technically _end_ here? You yourself said the future it predicts is based on one's _interpretation_. The Xenotome gave you what you were looking for. You wanted a way for the Holy War to occur. That doesn't mean it has to happen. Also, your Scroll of Destiny says there is a war that starts in Angel Grove involving me, apparently. Who's to say that is _this_ war? What if, in the future, I am involved in some other war that starts here? Everything you have said is very vague, and I cannot support it."

"You don't need to, Zordon! Soon, this world will be destroyed, and the universe will be rid of Demons! Then, the Ethereals will rise with me as their king, and this woman here as their queen!" Michael yelled.

"Don't you _dare_ touch my wife," Zordon-B warned.

 _Your_ _queen_ _!?_ Nathadian Tria thought in anger. _I don't_ _think_ _so!_

"This is all pride, Michael!" She screamed as she finally made her way to the scene. "You don't care about the results of the Holy War! All you want is to end your feud with your brother. Your mind has become so deluded due to your time in Bansheera's cage that you no longer care about who you hurt, as long as you get to your brother. You led your people into a death trap to get their powers! Michael! Please stop!"

"That voice..." Saba-B said to Zordon-B as he stood beside him in the Time Warp as well. "I know it has been many centuries, but... Zordon!? Is that...!?"

Zordon-B nodded. "I knew it the moment she spoke. It's Tria."

"But how!?" Saba-B asked, staring at the events unfolding in the hologram image above their heads.

Michael paused for a moment. He began thinking about what he had just heard. Some part of him could see the truth in what Nathadian Tria was saying. Guilt gripped his heart as he remembered the look of hurt on Castiel's face when he realized Michael was betraying them. He looked over to the brainwashed Trinity-B, thinking of how he was ripping her away from her life. He thought about all of the inhabitants of Earth, and what would happen to them.

He then thought about his brother, Victor. He thought about that horrible girl, Lilith, and how she locked onto Victor like a plague so many years earlier. His heart was heavy as he remembered the first time he saw Victor become a Demon, the Alpha Demon even. He remembered his vow, that he would one day allow the Holy War to occur, so he would be able to save Victor from the grasps of evil.

"At times..." Michael said, completely sane for the first time since Castiel had released him from the monolith Bansheera had locked him in nearly one hundred and sixty five million years earlier. "We have to hurt others to ensure we get out 'happily ever after'..."

"I'm feeling a lot of power coming from Michael!" Guardian warned Nathadian Tria. "Don't let him-"

As Guardian tried to warn Tria-B, Michael pulled out five Power Cards. That caused Nathadian Tria to yell, "Nooo!"

"That's nonsense, Michael! You're being selfish!" Zordon-B cried out, watching with great interest to see what Michael was going to do with the new Power Cards.

"Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Alpha 4 shouted.

"Zordon! Look!" Saba-B declared, pointing at the hologram.

Zordon-B observed as Michael threw the five cards into the air. He then lifted up his sword. White Energy and Morphing Energy mixed into the sword and shot Trinity-B.

"Trinity! No!" Zordon-B screamed.

The beam then left Trinity-B and shot the Power Cards. Those in the valley watched dumbstruck as the cards turned into humanoid figures. Soon, those figures became familiar looking warriors.

"The secret weapons of the Holy War! The Gaia Power Warriors! I think you know these Morphing Grid warriors now a days as Power Rangers, though..." Michael declared.

"That's the Gaia Rangers alright..." Guardian remarked to not only Nathadian Tria, but to those watching in the Hall of Legends.

Burai-A shook his head. "They're just like Trinity, now. This is just awful!"

Orion-A clenched a fist and spat. "Let them rest in peace! Ugh!"

Michael held up the black card connected to Trinity-B. "And thus starts the Holy War!"

"Meledon Conversion: Speed Force!" Nathadian Tria screamed.

"Rip 'em apart, Tria!" Orion-A yelled into the Time Crystal so she could hear him.

"Will do," Nathadian Tria promised.

"Stop her!" Michael ordered.

As the blur that was Nathadian Ranger Tria zoomed toward King Michael, Ethereal Trinity flashed forward in a blindingly high speed herself. She slammed into the Power Ranger, her sister. She then grabbed Nathadian Ranger and, placing her blaster to the Power Ranger's chest, fired.

"Ahh!" Nathadian Tria yelled, falling to the ground near Alpha 4 and the monitor displaying Zordon-B's head. She demorphed as she hit the ground, shaking her head in defeat.

"No one will stop this!" Michael screamed. He then tossed a Power Card to the ground. Channeling power from the Gaia Rangers and Trinity-B, Michael zapped the black Power Card.

"What is he doing!?" Zordon-B demanded.

"That Power Card is..." Guardian said, trying to calculate it through the Time Crystal. He was focusing extra power to Tria-B so she could hear him even unmorphed. He didn't know how long he could keep such a connection, however. Transcending Space and Time was not a cheap endeavor, energy wise.

September furrowed his brow as he read it first. "That Power Card is bringing back the Alpha Demon..."

Climbing to her feet, Tria-B frowned and decided to relay the information to Zordon-B. "He's bringing back his brother. This is very bad."

They watched as a massive dragon-like being emerged from the light blasting out from the Power Card. Soon thereafter, a loud and ominous booming of laughter could be heard coming from the figure as details began to be seen from the beast. Many arms, and a second head on the torso were the foremost features that stood out in the minds of those watching.

From high above, on a cliff, Gokai Slayer looked down with his arms folded across his chest. Speaking in a voice sounding very similar to Marvelous', he said, "And so he returns..." He was apprehensive of the return of the Alpha Demon, hoping that it wouldn't mean the end of his freedom. He had recently dipped himself in the Sanzu River, but with Beelzebub being completely "alive" again, he didn't know if that would be enough to stave the influence Beelzebub may still have had over him.

"Hahaha! Yes!" The Demon cackled. "I'm finally back. I have awaited this day for two thousand years!"

"Who are you!?" Zordon-B demanded.

"I am the harbinger of what is to come. I am the Alpha Demon. I am Beelzebub."

Black Energy revolved around Beelzebub. He turned and looked at Michael. "Hello, brother. It seems you got out of that box."

Michael pointed his sword at Beelzebub. "Will you surrender now and come back home, Victor?"

"Wow! I have not heard that name in quite some time... I am _Beelzebub_ and you will rue the day I returned to the land of the living!"

"The energy bouncing off both of them is insane!" Guardian shouted. "Tria! Be careful!"

Tria-B simply nodded. She was taking in the entirety of what she was seeing. Even though Michael looked to be only a lowly Human compared to the massive Beelzebub, she could _feel_ how equal they were in power. She didn't know if she had the power output to match the two Demi-Gods.

"Let the Holy War commence, then!" Michael roared. As he did, a portal appeared. Spewing out from the portal, hundreds upon hundreds of Rinshi and Morlocks flooded the landscape of Angel Grove. Michael sneered at the forces of the Undead that had assumed appeared due to Beelzebub, not knowing Octomus had sent them for his own purposes. He promptly ordered the Gaia Rangers under his control and Ethereal Trinity to destroy them.

Zordon-B stared in anger as Ethereal Trinity flew off to fight the enemies. He also watched as the Gaia Rangers stormed in, ready to fight. He saw Ethereal Trinity meet up with the Chameleon Warrior and begin to trade blows.

"No! I have to do something! Guardian! Anyone!? Get me out of here!" Zordon-B demanded.

Zordon-A sighed from the Hall of Legends, watching his Temporal Twin from another Time Crystal. _Universal Equilibrium at its best. I had never thought of it until now... I deleted my Timeline to ensure Ultimecia's destruction. In doing so, I have caused myself to be trapped in the Hall of Legends outside of the matrix of Space/Time. Because I have done that, now my Temporal Twin is_ _also_ _trapped outside of Space and Time... I suppose September and Guardian were right to be so careful about their preparations for this mission. Time is a fickle and extremely dangerous thing. Best to tread lightly..._

Saba-B approached Zordon-B. "Stop! We're stuck here and there is nothing we can do about it!"

"She's my wife! I _have_ to save her!" Zordon-B screamed.

"Don't worry about it, Zordon..." Tria-B said, overhearing the conversation via the monitor. "She's my sister. You can count on me to get her back."

 _It may not be the way you want, though..._ Tria-B said to herself, thinking of the consequences of her actions on her brother-in-law.

"Tria... how are you even here!?" Zordon-B demanded, turning to look at her via the hologram.

"I'll explain after I get Trinity back. It's morphin' time!" Tria-B yelled, becoming Nathadian Ranger once again. She didn't want to have to answer any questions to him. She knew based on September's plans that the less Zordon-B knew about her and the Hall of Legends, the better off Zordon-B and the forces of good were to be later in the future.

"Meledon Conversion: Speed Force!" She yelled.

"Speed Force connection depleted. Recharging," A computer voice said.

"Use something else," The Guardian told her. He was glad to be able to use normal communication via the Nathadian Gem, but having communicated with her while she was unmorphed was a significant contributor to her connection to her powers beginning to wane.

As Nathadian Tria began sprinting forward, knocking out and destroying monsters as she ran, she said, "How did you get Orion to let me go after Trinity? He was rather... non confrontational about it."

"I told him that you wouldn't affect the Timeline since you are _from_ the Timeline," Guardian replied slyly.

"But I'm supposed to be destroyed here. You lied?" Nathadian Tria said, not believing her ears.

"Wait, what!?" Orion-A gasped. He looked to Burai-A, who was equally as surprised. They didn't know the Guardian to be someone to dabble in non-truths.

"Sometimes the rules need to be bent in dire situations. Your family has gone through too much. Besides, September here so far says he truly cannot see anything adverse happening," Guardian explained. He was essentially telling Tria-B that they believed they were on course to getting September's plans up and running.

Relieved at the news, Nathadian Ranger Tria leapt over a Rinshi, only feet away from her sister. "Yeah... so far..."

As she was to grab Ethereal Trinity from behind, blasts of Black Energy erupted around Nathadian Tria. She looked up to see Diabolico and his crew appear nearby. They seemed to be attacking anything that moved. A large army of Batlings flanked them on all sides.

"What are _they_ doing here!?" Nathadian Tria demanded.

"Bansheera sent them." September said, reading the Time Crystal as quickly as he could.

"September says it seems as if Bansheera sent them," Guardian relayed to Nathadian Tria.

"She wants the Resurrection Card that brought back Beelzebub so she can resurrect her son, Henry!" September cried out in shock. "She will have too much power with that Power Card! With Henry by her side, her inhibitions will be completely gone and she'll eventually be a worse threat than Ultimecia!"

"She... wow. She wants the resurrection card Michael has. You must go stop them now!" Guardian ordered.

"No! What about Trinity!?" Nathadian Tria demanded, torn between her duty to save the universe, and saving her sister.

"Stopping Diabolico is top priority now." Guardian said, trying to shut off his emotions.

"Then send Zrin or Zordon. I'm saving my sister," She stated matter of factly. She could already feel the Time Vortex opening behind her, though, due to Guardian seeing a need to bench her.

"Nice try. I'm sending Orion," Guardian said. He turned to Orion-A and motioned for him to get ready.

"Well, you're not taking me." Nathadian Tria said, demorphing.

"Noo-" Guardian could be heard yelling as her helmet disappeared. The Time Vortex disappeared as well.

"Drat!" Guardian cried out. "We're low on power. I can't keep trying to talk to her..."

"Already on my way!" Orion-A shouted as he morphed into Nathadian Ranger, the Nathadian Gem appearing in his chest slot. He leapt into a Time Vortex, landing on the other side of the battlefield.

"Good luck, Orion," Tria-B said to herself. "I have a mission of my own. Oof!"

Tria-B fell to the dirt as a Morlock Hidiack hit her. She was then picked up by a Batling and thrown into a mosh pit of monsters. _This is gonna be harder than I thought..._

Meanwhile, Michael flew up into the sky. He then began showering orbs of White Energy down on Beelzebub. Before he was pelted, Beelzebub caused a shield of Black Energy to appear around him.

"Give up, Michael! You can't beat me! I can feel some of my former followers are here. How about I call _all_ Demons here!?" Beelzebub screamed. Then, using his Alpha powers from The Evil which resided inside him, he sent out a blast from himself that erupted throughout the universe, calling for any and all available Demons to come to him.

"I can take them all on. Then I will, with a heavy heart, slay you. Then Beelzebub will be no more, and the only name people will remember is that of Victor," Michael said. He rushed down covered in White Energy and began ramming himself into the force field, trying to reach Beelzebub who was within.

Meanwhile, Nathadian Orion rushed to get to Diabolico. As he approached him, he yelled: "Meledon Conversion: White Battery!"

He quickly became Nathadian Life Ranger, with white spandex, white hair, and the same triangle emblem on his chest Zordon-B wore when he had tapped into the same power. Although he wore a mask, Zordon-B from the hologram could still recognize him.

"That's Orion!?" Zordon-B questioned, bewildered.

"The Guardian has a lot of explaining to do..." Saba-B said as he folded his arms across his red furry chest. For him, he was shocked to see Tria-B up and about after nearly two thousand years. Not knowing that was Orion from Timeline A (for neither of them knew Timeline A had any survivors outside of the Guardian), they were simply assuming that Orion was the same man they had known he was slain by Darkonda on Mirinoi.

Back on Earth, Nathadian: Life shot out several blasts of White Energy at Diabolico. Zordon-B frowned as he watched Batling after Batling jump in front of Diabolico, blocking the blows. All the while, he could see the Gaia Rangers and Ethereal Trinity fighting anything they could, under orders from King Michael.

"Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi! Isn't there something we can do, Zordon!?" Alpha 4 cried out.

Zordon-B closed his hand into a fist. "Point my monitor in their direction."

As Alpha 4 did as Zordon-B requested, Saba-B asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm hoping for a miracle..." Zordon-B said.

In the Hall of Legends, Zordon-A placed a hand to his wrinkled face. He was curious to see what his Temporal Twin had in mind. He watched as Zordon-B concentrated on the scene. When Zordon-B saw all five Gaia Rangers and also Ethereal Trinity at the same time in the same general vicinity, he shouted: "Nathadian Blast! Meledon Conversion: Transmission Block!"

 _Impossible!_ Zordon-A shouted. _He was able to use his Nathadian Magic to blast through the confines of Space and Time!? But... how!?_

"Whoa!" Zrin cried out, watching the event via the main Time Crystal September and Guardian were using. "How did he do that!?"

"That should have been impossible..." Alpha Ranger commented from the Inner Sanctum, baffled by the amount of energy he felt surge from the Time Warp into Universe M54331Z.

"It's Love," Burai-A deduced. "Pure Love was enough to seep through both Space and Time..."

Thinking that comment hogwash, but unable to refute it, Zordon-A simply went back to watching the rest of the phenomenon unfold. He watched as Zordon-B fell onto his back in the Time Warp, landing on coarse sand. Blood poured out his nose as he looked up at the hologram. The blast ripped out of his dimension and was hit by his Meledon Conversion.

"Please let this work..." Zordon-B prayed.

Realizing the Meledon Conversion was meant to convert the blast into something which would jam King Michael's frequency he was using to control his puppets, Zordon-A. Then, adding to Zordon-B's prayer, he thought: _Please..._ _please_ _let this work..._

September turned and read Zordon-A's thoughts on what had occurred (for the event baffled him as well). He then smiled as he heard Zordon-A's prayer. "I didn't take you as a spiritual kind of person. More of a man based in hard fact."

Zordon-A looked at September and smiled. "To quote Peter-Utopia: 'There's nothing wrong with a little religion'."

In the Time Warp, Zordon-B watched as the spell landed on the six targets. Looking then specifically at Ethereal Trinity, he thought: _I love you so much! Please come back to me!_

A twinge of guilt hit September. Zordon-B had done something amazing, all in the name of love. All to get his wife back. That was not what September had planned...

"Huh?" Gaia Red said. He looked to Gaia Pink.

"What in the holy mess is happening here!?" Gaia Blue demanded, swinging his weapon and hitting a Rinshi in the face.

"It's time to beat up an old friend..." Gaia Black said, pointing to Beelzebub in the distance as he backhanded Michael.

Gaia Yellow laughed. "We have way too many lives!"

"Let's make this one count." Gaia Pink said, clenching her fists as she eyed the beast she wanted vengeance on for so long: Beelzebub.

"Alright." Gaia Red said as he began swinging his arm in a circle. "Let's make this showy."

A few feet away, Tria-B was punched in the face by a Hidiack. "Ugh!"

Before another move, a blast of White Energy evaporated the enemy.

"Huh?" Tria-B asked in confusion, massaging her jaw.

"Tria! You're back!?" Ethereal Trinity yelled, swooping down and landing before her sister.

Tria-B sprinted forward and hugged Ethereal Trinity with all her might. "You're back!?"

"How is this possible!?" Trinity-B demanded in between sobs of joy.

Tria-B turned and saw Orion-A as Nathadian Ranger Life struggling against Bansheera's forces. "No time now. We have to get that card from Beelzebub while Orion is buyin' us some time."

"Orion!?" Ethereal Trinity asked in surprise.

"Yeah! Come on!" Tria-B shouted.

Zordon-B turned his head to Saba. "It worked! It..."

Saba-B gasped as Zordon-B passed out. "Oh, no! Zordon!"

Looking over Zordon-A's shoulder at the Time Crystal showing Zordon-B's Time Warp, Zrin asked, "Is he gonna be okay!?"

Zordon-A nodded. "His vitals are high, but it seems as if he'll be fine."

Meanwhile in Angel Grove, Beelzebub looked back and saw the Gaia Rangers rushing toward him, with Tria-B and Ethereal Trinity close behind. He then chuckled as he spoke at King Michael: "Looks like you've lost your lap dogs."

"No matter. I don't need them anymore. They got me here where I wanted to be," Michael said. He then rushed forward and, blocking all of Beelzebub's attacks, chopped off his second head. He then stabbed him in the chest.

"Ahh!" Beelzebub cried out.

"Time for this to end. Time for the culmination of the Holy War, brother." Michael said, digging the blade in deeper. "Time for me to recreate the universe."

Beelzebub screamed in pain and anger. One of his many arms grabbed King Michael from behind. Another punched him in the face as yet another threw him off of the Alpha Demon, causing the sword to fly out of his trunk as well.

"...I will now destroy you!" Beelzebub screamed. He began charging every ounce of Black Energy that he could into himself, ready to destroy Michael.


	4. Story3:HolyWar:Different Perspective Pt2

**The Holy War: A Different Perspective Part Three**

 _ **8000 BC - Universe M54331Z Timeline B**_

"No..." Michael gasped, on the ground and disoriented from the attack on him. He fumbled for his sword but could not grip it.

Seeing the opportunity to take both villains down, Gaia Pink yelled out to her team: "Dynamic Victory Charge!"

Before the Gaia Rangers could do the attack, however, a blast hit them from above. They fell to the ground. As they fell, Tria-B and Ethereal Trinity rushed to their aid.

"Tsk, tsk," Darkonda said. He casually landed in between them and the dueling brothers. "Although Beelzebub and I have never worked together, I'm interested in seeing what kind of universe he can shape for Demons like me."

"Novact!" Tria-B spat.

"He's disgusting in every universe..." Burai-A said in the Hall of Legends as he watched the scene.

"I agree," Guardian said.

"Wow! Tria of Triforia!? What a treat!" Darkonda said, pulling out a sword. "I'm going to make sure you _stay_ gone this time, though."

A mere fifty yards away, Beelzebub was almost ready to send a massive Black Energy bomb at Michael. "It's time you-ungh!"

Before he could finish, Gokai Slayer descended upon Beelzebub and slashed him several times. "I don't think so."

"What!? Who are... my avatar!? Is that you!? What are you doing!?" Beelzebub demanded. It had taken him a moment to recognize the being who had once been an extension of himself from the Afterlife.

Gokai Slayer laughed. "I'm making sure you don't come into power. If you win, you'll want to put me back as a part of you. I've... come to like being my own person."

"Traitor! You're a part of me! I gave you life! I am the Alpha Demon and you are my Demon!" Beelzebub bellowed as Michael attempted to catch his breath.

Gokai Slayer laughed and shook his head. "No... I'm not a Demon. I'm Gokai Slayer." He then became a blur and zoomed off into the distance, placing Michael's sword in Michael's hand before leaving.

Plunging the sword into the dirt, Michael used it like a crutch as he pushed himself onto his feet. Hobbling slowly forward, he hovered over the fallen Beelzebub. "Goodbye, brother."

"You wouldn't _dare_!" Beelzebub screamed.

"Yes, I would," Michael said simply. If he couldn't have Victor back, he'd rather the abomination that Beelzebub was be gone, along with Victor (who he believed were two separate entities. He refused to believe Victor was fully in control of himself as Beelzebub).

"Uh-oh..." September said. "It seems as if a new fighter is entering the battlefield!"

Zrin's eyes grew wide. "His power... Our sensors show they're so _high_!"

King Michael lifted up his sword and swung it. Before it hit its downward arc, though, he stopped. Michael's eyes went wide as he dropped his sword. Beelzebub watched in confusion as it fell to the dirt.

Suddenly, a massive figure emerged from behind Michael, unseen by Beelzebub due to his line of sight. It was the massive lava golem, Dark Specter, who came to Earth in response to the message to all Demons Beelzebub had sent out earlier in the fight. Dark Specter lifted King Michael up, revealing his fist _in_ Michael's back, having penetrated it. Dark Specter then threw Micheal up and into the air. As Michael sailed through the air, Dark Specter shot four massive Black Energy infused fireballs from his mouth at Michael. Beelzebub's eyes widened as he saw his lifelong rival explode in the air, a shockwave of White Energy erupting from him as his life ended.

"What is this!?" Beelzebub demanded from the ground. "Who are you!?"

The massive fiery Demon laughed a deep, dark laugh. Fear hit Beelzebub in his very core as he heard the laugh reach his ears. "I am the future ruler of the universe: I am Dark Specter."

Meanwhile, Orion-A as Nathadian Ranger Life grunted as a blast of Star Power slammed into him. Having been morphed into this new mode, connected to both the Morphing Grid and also the White portion of the Emotional Spectrum, Nathadian: Life no longer wore a helmet. The part of his helmet which allowed him to stay in contact with the Hall of Legends had become a small earpiece. From said earpiece, the Guardian's voice flowed out from it. "Orion!? Are you okay!?"

Zordon-A tuned his Time Crystal from the Time Warp to also monitor what was occurring with Orion-A. As he did, he noticed that Orion-A had been hurt rather badly from the last blast. The Star Power Diabolico had stolen millions of years earlier from Lije of the Dawn was a raw form of Psychic Energy that had taken its toll on Orion-A in White Battery Mode.

Nathadian: Life coughed and laughed. "Yeah, I'm good. This Demon, Diabolico, is pretty dang strong, though!"

"I am sorry. I completely forgot about the powers he took from Lije of the Dawn. He will be quite a tough opponent," Guardian said.

"You don't say!?" Nathadian: Life said sarcastically as he jumped to his feet and obliterated a small squad of Batlings with a small shockwave of White Energy.

"Loki!? It's Dark Specter!" Diabolico said, gripping his sword tightly as his vision went back and forth from Dark Specter hovering over a fallen Beelzebub in the distance, and to the approaching Nathadian Ranger Life.

"What do we do!?" Loki(D) asked, pointing his bazooka at Nathadian: Life.

Diabolico shook his head. He did not want to divide his army, but he could not think of a better way. "We need that card for Queen Bansheera. This White Ranger here is very powerful, though. I will battle him. You head to Beelzebub, but be careful! I don't want you to fall to Dark Specter."

Loki(D) nodded. "Understood, Diabolico!"

"Oh, no!" Burai-A shouted. "Zordon!? Let's monitor Loki."

"Right." Zordon-A said as he began to track the squatty Demon during his mission to grab the recently deceased King Ethereal's Resurrection Card.

"We'll keep our eyes on Orion." Guardian informed the others as September and Zrin watched the scene through his Time Crystal.

"Just make sure you get that Power Card from Beelzebub. Then we can leave this horrid place," Diabolico ordered. As he watched Loki(D) walk away, he called out after him. "And please be careful!"

Nathadian: Life scoffed. "That's rich. You'd almost think you're capable of feeling!" He then shot four volleys of White Energy toward Diabolico.

Unflinching, Diabolico walked slowly toward Nathadian: Life as Batlings jumped in his way, taking the hits for him. "Oh, I _am_ capable of feeling. Once Bansheera rules the universe, everyone will become a Demon. Then even _you_ will be able to benefit from the gift of Demonhood."

Nathadian: Life clenched his fist in anger. He pointed his other, unclenched, fist at Diabolico. "Bansheera is a scourge in this universe. I've seen far too much what that horrible witch is capable of! I will not allow the same thing that happened to my people happen here as well! Bansheera will not rise to power in this universe! Meledon Conversion: Red Battery!"

"No!" Zrin gasped.

"This won't turn out well..." September said, shaking his head as he watched Orion-A tap into the Red portion of the Emotional Spectrum. Each portion of the Spectrum corresponded to a different emotion by the living, sentient beings of the universe. Orion-A was so angry thinking about Bansheera and also Ultimecia (and how Ultimecia had destroyed nearly everyone in Timeline A) that he had given into said anger and tapped into the Red Spectrum. The Spectrum of Rage.

The suit the Nathadian Ranger was wearing changed from its pure white color to, with a burst of power that looked like Nathadian Ranger had been swallowed up by a crimson tornado, a deep red color. The triangular emblem of the White Battery Mode had been replaced with the Red Battery Mode emblem. It was two parallel lines running vertically, opening up at the top of the symbol, creating what could be seen as a sort of goblet like shape. At the bottom of the symbol was a circle which resided in between the parallel lines.

With an explosion of Red Morphing Energy behind him, Nathadian Ranger screamed with fury on his face that could be seen even with the small mask over his eyes: "Nathadian Ranger: Rage!"

"Orion! Be extremely careful! You need to stay in control!" Guardian yelled in concern over the earpiece.

Diabolico took a step back. "What sort of power is this!?"

Vypra destroyed a Rinshi as she, too, looked over. She began to tremble in fear at the sight of the rage filled Power Ranger.

Red Energy circled about Nathadian: Rage. It then accumulated beneath his feet, lifting him up into the air. The Red Energy was invisible to the naked eye, and thus made it appear as if Nathadian: Rage was floating in the air. He had his arms out to his sides, fingers outstretched and pointing toward the sky, looking as if he was revelling in his power. "Hahahaha! You tell me to be careful!? Ha! The only ones who should fear my power are the fools who stand against me! Rage Sphere! Yaaaah!"

Visible Red Energy gathered around his right fist. He then cocked his arm back and, swinging with his shoulder, a ball of power that seemed almost as if it was made up of viscous blood sailed through the air from his hand, aimed right at Diabolico.

"Star Power!" Diabolico screamed in a panic. The blast erupted from the star on his chest like a meteor. It hit the Rage Sphere head on, but lost the battle of brute force. Diabolico watched in terror as the Star Blast was disintegrated by the Rage Sphere. He then braced himself as he was hit. He flew onto his back, screaming in pain as all within a fifty foot radius, from Rinshi to Batling to Hidiack, disintegrated from the power.

"..." Diabolico attempted to pull himself up, but could hardly move.

"Hahaha! You're lucky that attack of yours slowed the Rage Sphere down!" Nathadian: Rage proclaimed. "Now I will force you to watch as I destroy your entire army before I rip you limb from limb!"

"No, no, no!" September cried out. "Diabolico needs to be eliminated now! He is too much of a problem in the future!"

"Orion!? No! Destroy him now!" The Guardian screamed. "September has calculated that this will make the future better without him!"

Nathadian: Rage scoffed. "This is the beginning of my vengeance, Guardian. Butt out!" Red Energy encircled him. Laughing maniacally, Nathadian: Rage zoomed down and began grabbing Batlings. The first he grabbed he picked up by placing his palm over the crown of its head. Looking Diabolico in the eyes, he laughed as he flicked his wrist and broke the Batling's neck.

"You're... insane...!" Diabolico coughed out.

Nathadian: Rage laughed as he shot a Rinshi with a Rage Blast. "I'm not insane! I'm just... angry."

September watched on helplessly as Nathadian: Rage continued rampaging throughout the field, destroying for the sake of fueling his anger. He looked at Diabolico, whose chances for surviving increased exponentially with every moment Nathadian: Rage kept him alive.

 _Poor Ryan..._ September thought. _If Diabolico indeed survives, that poor little boy will suffer so much under him..._

Meanwhile, Darkonda was enjoying "playing" with Ethereal Trinity, Tria-B, and the Gaia Rangers. "Dark Pulse!"

A cloudy black ball erupted from Darkonda's sword. It flew straight at Trinity-B.

"White Shield!" Ethereal Trinity screamed. Her wings erupted from her back once again. White Energy glided off each feather of her wings, coming together before her to form a tapestry of power. The matrix of White Energy solidified before her into a shield and absorbed the attack.

"I won't let your wings get in my way! Ahhh!" Darkonda screamed, rushing forward to strike at Ethereal Trinity with his sword. As he did, a shockwave of Red Energy swam over the area, radiated from Nathadian: Rage's attacks.

In the Hall of Legends, Zordon-A looked up. "Loki has abandoned his mission. He seems to be infected with Rage from the Emotional Spectrum. Are you guys experiencing the same thing?"

Guardian nodded. "Unfortunately yes..."

Sighing, September looked to those in the room. "Orion is greatly deviating from the plan I had. If he continues like this, my plan to save Trinity will be ruined."

"You mean...?" Zrin asked, afraid to finish the sentence.

"I mean that Trinity will not survive the Holy War if Orion continues as he is," September replied, knowing the statement was hard to hear but needed to be said.

In Angel Grove, the wave of Red Energy seemed to saturate the air around everyone. It danced off of each person like a heatwave. Darkonda dropped to a knee as the Red Energy began to permeate his very being. He looked up at Ethereal Trinity, eyes glowing red. She stared back at him with the same red eyes.

"Ahhh!" Darkonda screamed, rushing forward again.

With blinding speed, Ethereal Trinity flew around him before landing behind him. She grabbed him around the neck from behind and flew up with him. She then slammed him down, driving his body into the dirt and gravel.

"I will rip your Demon body apart!" Ethereal Trinity screamed, madness dancing off her brow.

Tria-B's eyes became red as well. She stopped tending to an injured Gaia Blue and began to make her way to where Trinity-B had landed with Darkonda a few feet away. Upon arriving, Tria-B grabbed Ethereal Trinity from behind and threw her off of the nearly comatose Darkonda.

"He's mine."

"...ugh..." Darkonda moaned as Tria-B spun him around to stare into his face.

Sneering as her eyes continued to glow with Red Energy, she looked deep into Darkonda's eyes. "Novact... the traitor. This is all your fault! If you hadn't betrayed Commander Zedd and the rest of your troop, Master Vile would never have found out about the Zeo Crystal, and he would never have escalated Project White Genesis! I've seen your life line and you have been the catalyst for more evil in the universe than most others... I mean, it is because of _you_ Dark Specter exists in the first place! When Bansheera was creating you, a piece of your Greed stayed behind and when Neo Maligore was created, it mixed with your essence and created Dark Specter! Well guess what? It all ends here, Novact! I'm going to- oof!"

Ethereal Trinity blindsided Tria-B. " _I'm_ going to destroy him. Not _you_!"

"I have a history with him, Trinity! Back off!" Tria-Bscreamed in fury.

"No! You've been gone for two thousand years! Although you knew him first, I have more time battling this Demon. He's mine!" Trinity-B rebuttaled.

"How _dare_ you speak to me that way! You know why I've been gone for two millennia!? Because you didn't even try to save me, that's why!" Tria-B accused.

"Oh, no..." Zrin lamented. "This is getting real bad."

"I still don't have enough power to get through to her!" Guardian cried out, clenching his fists in worry over the situation.

"Oh, don't you start that with me! We tried and couldn't find you. Apparently it's because you didn't perish in the first place! Why didn't you tell me!?" Ethereal Trinity screamed.

"I couldn't! The Guardian..." Tria-B stopped and began to think a little more clearly than she had been up to that point.

You know what this is, Tria! Tria of Wisdom said to her. You were taught about this! It's the effects of Red Energy. Someone must have tapped into the Red portion of the Emotional Spectrum. It's infecting everyone around that person! You need to control yourself and stop this!

"The Guardian _what_!?" Trinity-B demanded. All the while Darkonda tried to regain composure, but kept falling back to the ground. "Oh, I get it! You can't even think up a lie, huh!? Well... I will make sure you go back where you came from! I don't need you interfering with my life anymore!"

Speaking aloud to herself, Tria-B placed her hands to her temples and screamed: "What if I can't control it!? Ahhh!"

"Control me!?" Trinity-B screamed, thinking Tria-B was speaking to her. "You really do think you can come back into my life and tell me what to do, do you!? I will destroy you for your stupidity!"

You have to dig down deep! Tria of Courage counseled. You have to stand up for your beliefs and not let this spell become your new inclination! Be strong!

Tria of Heart put in her two cents, as well. Tria... You must beat this. The fate of all of those you love lies in the balance.

Tria-B then looked up, the red fading from her eyes. As she did, she saw Ethereal Trinity blazing toward her. "Umm... Nathadian Blast!?"

A burst of Nathadian Magic came out of Tria-B and hit Ethereal Trinity in the stomach, sending her spiraling backwards, but still staying afloat. Tria-B looked down at her hands in surprise. "Wow! I actually got a spell off unmorphed!"

Zordon-A nodded, impressed. "I see her training is paying off."

"Shame your Twin did something cooler," Zrin said. "Kinda makes this dull in comparison..."

Trinity-B looked at Tria-B in anger. "You will pay for that!"

"Trinity! Please! Calm down!" Tria-B pleaded.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Ethereal Trinity screamed. She was still a little off kilter from the blast, but was quickly regaining her composure.

Tria-B frowned. _I'm sunk if I can't knock some sense into her... What do I do!?_

All the while, Dark Specter laughed as he taunted Beelzebub. "So much for the mighty Alpha Demon. You're as pathetic as Bansheera said you were. She destroyed you two thousand years ago, and I will destroy you once again. And this time, you won't come back."

"...How dare you speak to me... this way... I am the father... of our species!" Beelzebub said, struggling to speak.

"Yes, you are. But... you're outdated. I'm a new breed of Demon. I have no mortal counterpart. I was created pure. I'm not a hybrid like you," Dark Specter said proudly.

Beelzebub tapped into his Demon Alpha powers and sensed Dark Specter. "... It's true... but Demons are _supposed_ to be hybrids... you're... you're just an... abomination."

Dark Specter shook his head and laughed. "No, I'm just the next step for Demons toward perfection. And now it is time to eliminate you from the gene pool!"

Beelzebub grunted as he felt Dark Specter backhand him. Spitting black blood, Beelzebub looked at Dark Specter in a rage. "How _dare_ you disrespect me! At least... finish... me with... dignity!"

Dark Specter laughed again as he kicked Beelzebub in the gut, where King Michael's sword attack had left behind a bad gash. "No, no... I hold no reverence to you. I owe you no sort of dignity." Dark Specter then picked Beelzebub up and threw him twenty feet forward. As Beelzebub fell to the ground, he bounced a few times before landing on a resting point.

"Ahhh!" Beelzebub screamed as he shot a blast of Black Energy at Dark Specter.

Dark Specter laughed as he outstretched his hand and caught the blast. He then infused the ball of power with more of his own energy before sending it back at Beelzebub.

The Alpha Demon screamed in agony. "Stop this!"

"Oh, I will. I will stop this now. I will end you... now," Dark Specter replied gleefully. "Now _I_ am the Alpha Demon!"

"You're... nothing. You're... lucky Michael... weakened me..." Beelzebub sneered.

"Oh, yes. The Ethereal I so easily took care of," Dark Specter said.

Beelzebub chuckled. "Yes, but I... weakened... him for you... You may... strike me down now, but you'll... never know... whether you would have... really been able to... defeat me if I had been at... full strength."

A roar of laughter erupted from Dark Specter. "Nice try! The 'temptation' of a real match was a nice attempt to allow you to escape, but no. I don't care about that. All I care about is winning. You were stupid enough to weaken yourself with your fraternal feud. Now I capitalize on it. _That's_ how people win. That's how _I_ win. And now for you, it's checkmate. Goodbye, Beelzebub." He then shot several blasts of Black Energy at the fallen Alpha Demon.

"Ahhh!" Beelzebub screamed. Pain rushed throughout his entire body. His vision began to blur. Clenching his fist, he roared and pulled himself up.

"Impossible!" Dark Specter screamed.

"I will end you!" Beelzebub roared.

"Well, this fight sure is going on for a while, huh?" Burai-A asked as he watched it via Zordon-A's Time Crystal.

On Earth, Dark Specter yelled at Beelzebub. "No! I will not allow this!" Focusing, the leader of the newly established United Alliance of Evil began to glow brightly. "I will use all of my powers to destroy you and everyone else in this valley!"

Beelzebub stared in awe as Dark Specter began to grow larger than he already was. He shot a few fireballs of Black Energy at Dark Specter, but none of them seemed to do more than annoy the growing Demon.

"And now I will end you!" Dark Specter cried out.

As he did, from above him in the sky, a portal opened up. Flying out of the portal was a man surrounded in White Energy and White Magic.

"Holy!" Castiel screamed. A large sphere of power erupted from him and slammed into Dark Specter.

"Ahhh!" Dark Specter roared.

"Who is that!?" Zordon-A demanded.

"It seems to be Castiel, the Ethereal," September replied. "I will begin to try and find out where that portal leads to."

Castiel landed on the ground and breathed in deeply. He looked up and Dark Specter and curled his upper lip into a snarl. "You don't defeat Beelzebub. Not here, not ever."

Dark Specter laughed. "And will you be the one to defeat me, little Ethereal?"

Castiel smiled. "No. I'll focus on Beelzebub. I was just buying time."

Dark Specter chuckled at what he saw as a bluff. "Really? For what?"

Castile pointed behind Dark Specter. "For him."

Turning around, Dark Specter saw the Gold Triforian Ranger standing on the edge of a cliff. Pointing at Dark Specter, the Gold Ranger said, "It's time to show you the true power of the Zeo Crystal! Power of Triforia: make me grow!"

Leaping off the cliff in Shadow Mode, the Gold Ranger was surrounded in Gold Morphing Energy. Leaving Shadow Mode and doing a frontflip, he grew to be as tall as Dark Specter. He then slashed the massive Demon with his Power Staff. As sparks erupted from the lava golem, he performed a roundhouse kick to Dark Specter's face.

As Dark Specter fell to the earth with a mighty thud, he thought: _I hate to admit it, but... Beelzebub did have influence over me. His call coaxed me to come to him. This isn't how I play my chess game. I am both the queen and king on the board. I am too valuable a piece to lose._

Gold Ranger could hear Dark Specter laughing. "What are you laughing about? It's a weird thing to do right before your funeral, you know."

"I'm just thinking about how I will get my revenge on you by destroying Triforia. Until next time, Gold Ranger," Dark Specter said. He then became a Demon Cloud and flew up into space.

 _Better power down, then. This is sapping my powers to no end._ Gold Ranger thought to himself as he began to shrink to normal size. He looked over and saw Castiel attacking Beelzebub. As he ran to join him, he saw something out of the corner of his eye: Ethereal Trinity had found Tria-B and was holding her up by the throat.

"You will now go back to being dead!" Ethereal Trinity screamed. As she was about to squeeze Tria-B's neck until it broke, Gold Ranger in Shadow Mode slammed into her.

"... thank you..." Tria-B managed to cough. She then blinked several times as she saw the Gold Ranger.

"Tria!? You're alive!?" Gold Ranger demanded.

She nodded. "Long story. How did you know to come here?"

"Dimitria. She called us to come and help," Gold Ranger replied.

"Us?" Tria-B asked.

Gold Ranger pointed behind her. Turning, Tria-B saw the reinforcements they so desperately needed. Power Rangers and Animal Warriors every which way, battling the hordes of Hidiacks, Rinshi, and Batlings all across Angel Grove.

Tria-B turned to look at the Gold Ranger, who had placed the unconscious Ethereal Trinity to the side. "Who are you? How do you know me?"

Demorphing, Tria-B saw Trint before her. "You!? Wow... what happened to Trinia?"

Trint shook his head. "After you... well... died... she couldn't handle it anymore. She put up the powers and I took over for her. Long story short, that is."

Tria swallowed. _It's not my fault, but... I still feel like I'm to blame._

Before she could say more, she heard some screaming coming from the side. Tria-B and Trint turned and saw the Gaia Rangers fighting each other due to the Rage, ignoring what was occurring around them.

Tria-B looked over to Trint. She was eyeing the Power Staff. "Umm... Trint... I was wondering if..."

Trint laughed and placed the Power Staff in her hands while still holding its shaft. "You're the first Gold Ranger. Of course."

Tria-B watched as the Gold Zeo Energy left Trint's body down his arm, into the Power Staff, and back into Tria-B. She was hit with a jolt of pain. "Ahh! I forgot about that..."

"Why does that happen, by the way?"

Tria-B smiled. "I guess I cut off a larger chunk of the Zeo Crystal than I originally had intended. Makes for a strong Power Ranger, though."

Trint nodded. "You're telling me. I feel so... weak without it now."

Tria-B smiled and looked back to the fighting Gaia Rangers. "One last time... it's morphin' time! Gold Ranger power!"

After a burst of Gold Zeo Energy surrounded her, she looked down and found that she had once again become the Gold Ranger. Laughing, she got into Shadow Mode and slammed into Gaia Pink before hitting Gaia Yellow.

"Zrin?" September said. "Orion is making too much of a mess of things. You need to go now. It's the only way I can see to keep Trinity alive. Also, due to his influences you guys need to keep Diabolico alive!"

Sighing, Guardian turned and looked at Zrin. "And go prepared. You may need to take Orion out with force. And I need you to return here immediately. Any further pursuits on Earth could jeopardize everything. I trust you..."

"Zocato Ranger!" Zrin yelled as he leapt through a Time Vortex.

"Is that wise?" Guardian asked September.

"He is from the Timeline. He won't cause too many disturbances," September replied.

"I just hope he's ready to deal with the fact that his mother might not survive this..." Zordon-A said darkly.

As Zocato Zrin landed on Earth, he heard Gaia Red ask a question about what was occurring. Answering, he said, "They are infected with Red Rage. It's caused by a fighter close by."

Gold Ranger spun around and laughed. "Zrin!?"

Zocato Ranger walked forward and nodded. "That's me. September calculated that if I get here now and subdue Orion, we can leave without changing this Timeline. Otherwise, bad things will happen..."

"Who's this guy?" Gaia Black asked the Blue Ranger.

Gaia Blue shrugged. "Don't know. Don't care. I do have a question, though. Why weren't _we_ affected by this 'rage'?"

"Marvelous had a Demon in him for two thousand years. He's resistant to emotional mood swings. Guy is a very relaxed person and it takes a lot to rile him up. And you, Joe? You're always angry, so you didn't feel a difference," Zocato Zrin explained, having been keeping an eye on the Gaia Rangers during the entire chaotic event.

"Impressive." September said, smiling at Zordon-A. "You must be proud."

Zordon-A couldn't help but return the smile. "Always."

Gaia Blue nodded and looked to Gaia Black. "Makes sense. Okay, Guy. Let's go help Marv with the girls."

Gold Ranger then turned to Zocato Zrin. "About what you said about not changing the Timeline... that means we won't change it all? What about Diabolico? What about my sister?"

"We have to let Diabolico go. He is directly connected to Orion's rage. Trinity's destiny is still up in the air, though. You go take her to safety while I try to bring in Orion," Zocato Zrin said.

Gold Ranger nodded. As she used Shadow Mode to bound over to Ethereal Trinity, Zocato Ranger used a Meledon Conversion to tap into the Speed Force and run around until he found a crater with high levels of Red Energy.

 _Bingo._ Zocato Zrin thought. Leaping into the crater, he saw Nathadian: Rage torturing Diabolico.

In the Hall of Legends, Zordon-A frowned. "Ugh. Please keep your eyes on my son. Loki for some reason seems to not be affected by Red Rage anymore. I'll keep an eye on him while Zrin fetches Orion."

In Angel Grove, Zocato Ranger yelled at Nathadian: Rage. "Orion!? Stop this!"

Nathadian: Rage turned around and scowled. "Stop!? Why would I do that!? Don't you remember fighting him back home!? How he helped destroy everything!?"

Zocato Ranger shook his head. He could tell the Rage was affecting Orion-A pretty deeply. In Zrin's mind he was too young to have fought Novact (who was known as Shadowtide in Timeline A). In reality, Zrin could never had battled Shadowtide since he never existed in Timeline A, having been born exclusively in Timeline B. "Orion... you know he's not the same person."

Nathadian: Rage clenched a fist. "But he would do the same things! You know how these Demons are! Besides... the Guardian said for me to destroy him!"

Zocato Ranger sighed. "That's before your influence started messing with those around you. When you tapped into the Red Spectrum, you infected those who had been around you. We have to let Diabolico go."

Nathadian: Rage screamed as he slammed the nearly comatose Diabolico to the ground. "No! I will get revenge! You won't stop me!"

Zocato Zrin sighed. Remembering the Guardian telling him to come prepared for a situation like the one he was facing, he said, "Amaradon Conversion: Blue Battery."

Suddenly, Zocato Ranger had become a Ranger identical to what Nathadian and Meledon Rangers had become when they had tapped into their Blue Battery Modes. The familiar emblem seen on their tight fitting suits appeared on him.

Nathadian: Rage shot several Rage Spheres at Zocato: Hope. The Blue Ranger simply shot out some Blue Energy, neutralizing the attacks and stopping it from spreading again.

"Fine! Nathadian Blast!" Nathadian: Rage screamed.

Zocato: Hope frowned. "Zocato Shield!"

"Stop this, Zrin!"

Zocato: Hope sighed. "Okay, Orion. I will end end this completely. I'm sorry. Amaradon Conversion: Violet Battery."

Zocato Ranger hardly changed. His suit went from blue to violet. The Hope emblem was replaced with Love Mode symbol, which looked like a radiating star in the shape of a cat's eye.

He had been avoiding using that mode, but he knew it was was the only weapon he could use to destroy Orion's rage. As the Violet Energy swept over Zocato: Love, he saw those whom he loved over his life. People he had watched from the Hall of Legends that he had grown attached to. He felt a great pain knowing that they had been destroyed. He gritted his teeth together and endured the painful memories. He then shot a Violet Energy Blast from himself, mixing Zocato power into it to also disarm the Nathadian Magic.

Every bit of Zocato: Love wanted to leave and save Trinity-B as he saw a demorphed Orion-A fall. Fighting the impulse, the Zocato Ranger returned to his normal base armor. Sighing, he activated a Time Vortex and rushed Orion-A in, to ensure Orion-A wasn't catabolized by the foreign Timeline. Knowing the Guardian trusted him, he bowed his head and disappeared into the vortex as well.

Orion-A fell to the floor of the Hall of Legends as the Time Vortex appeared. Zocato Ranger demorphed and lumbered over to a Time Crystal to see what further developments were occurring in the mission to save Trinity-B. As he did, Orion-A awoke.

"Huh? Where am I?" He asked.

Burai-A smiled and helped him up. As Orion-A leaned on his shoulder, Burai-A said, "Don't worry. I'll fill you in while I get you patched up."

"What have I missed?" Zrin asked as the two left the area.

"Castiel is battling Beelzebub and is using a new blade," September said. "I'm having a very difficult time figuring out where he was before all of this. That portal has a lot of magic around it..."

"Trinity has also awoken a few moments ago," Zordon-A reported. "It seems Trint was able to help her get back on her feet. I guess those Triforians know how to care for each other, huh?"

Nodding, Zrin turned to look through the Time Crystal at the scene. He watched as Beelzebub roared. The Alpha Demon mocked Castiel, stating how Castiel would never get the opportunity to destroy him.

As Beelzebub declared that, Ethereal Trinity flew forward and landed beside Castiel, saying, "Maybe not alone!"

"Ah, the creation of my ill intentioned brother." Beelzebub said, looking at Trinity-B as she brimmed with Ethereal power. "Even with you, you stand no chance."

"What about all of us?" Zordon-B (who had recently awoken as well) asked as Alpha 4 walked forward, holding the monitor showing his "floating head".

Hearing the word "us", Beelzebub took his eyes off Castiel and looked up. Seeing as he wasn't used to not having his second head to help give him an extra pair of eyes, he wasn't used to using his peripheral vision to see things outside of what he was focusing on. He had not noticed all of the fighters gathering around Castiel.

The White Aquitar Ranger got into a fighting stance. "It is time you faced your demise, Demon, once and for all!"

Gaia Pink clenched her fist in anger. "You have done nothing but cause pain and horror for all those in our universe. You will pay for your sins!"

"You will face the most exquisite form of destruction by our hands…" Magna Defender said, converting his sword into its blaster mode.

The Silver Space Ranger stepped forward as well. "The first Silver Ranger, Eric the Panama Ranger, fell by the hands of Demons. Today, we get vengeance on him!"

"I have seen the damage you have caused, starting eons ago…" The Gold Ranger, Tria-B, said. "Finally, you will perish…"

"Today, the Alpha Demon is no more…" Castiel said.

"I think not!" Beelzebub screamed. As he began to charge a massive Black Energy attack, he suddenly found himself encased in a massive stone capsule. "What is this!?"

Looking up, the group saw the Wizard of the Sands ride in on a stream of sand and dirt. "It is good to see you again, my Gaia Rangers!"

Gaia Red put his fist in the air in triumph. "Alright, guys! One last time! Let's make this showy!"

As he said that, Gokai Slayer blurred onto the scene. He looked over his shoulder as he gripped his Gokai Saber. "Today, I fight _with_ you. Do not cross me."

As he finished speaking, Beelzebub burst out of the stone enclosure. Roaring, he began to charge forward to eradicate from existence those who stood before him. To buy them time, the Wizard of the Sands used his Earth Bending abilities to create massive pillars from the ground to appear before the Alpha Demon, slowly him down as he tried to destroy the pillars in his way.

"Okay, this is so _awesome_!" Zrin cried out.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your enjoyment of the battle. It is nearing time to execute the plan," September said.

Zordon-A furrowed his brow. "How will that happen?"

"Just watch." September said, pointing to the Time Crystal.

"Powers of water!" Aquitar Red declared during the final battle of the Holy War. Focusing, the Aquitar Rangers called upon the moisture in the air, which carried sodium from the nearby ocean, and formed the water into jets that shot at Beelzebub. With each spear-like jet that appeared, it stabbed into the Alpha Demon's body. He howled in pain with each stab, due to Demons being allergic to salt.

"Galaxy Gliders, Hang Ten!" The Mega Black Space Ranger declared, being the field leader of that incarnation of the Space Rangers. His teammates pulled out their blasters as they rode upon their cycles and began firing down on the Alpha Demon.

Magna Defender looked back at Toro, his faithful friend. He saw that he and the other Animal Warriors were still busy battling Batlings. Seeing he had to do it alone, Magna Defender rushed forward. He jumped atop a pillar of earth as it rose up. Sailing into the air atop the pillar, Magna Defender jumped off the pillar and began leaping from column to column. Then, as he hovered above Beelzebub, he charged up with Morphing Energy and began spinning in the air. As he collected enough Morphing Energy, Magna Defender landed on Beelzebub and stabbed him in the back of the neck.

"Just thought my fellow Rangers would like a head start…" Magna Defender said as he twisted the blade while it was plunged deep into the Demon's neck.

Trint looked to the Gold Ranger and gave her a thumbs up. "You know what to do."

Nodding, the Gold Ranger shifted her Power Staff into battle mode. She focused her sights on Beelzebub as he slammed into the ground, who was still shooting out blasts of Black Energy even though he had just been paralyzed. "It's time for a gold rush!"

Gold Zeo Energy surrounded her as she rushed forward. She stabbed the gem of the Power Staff into Beelzebub and began shooting orb after orb of Zeo Energy into the beast's inside.

With determination, Beelzebub began shooting shockwave after shockwave of Black Energy out of his body. It threw Magna Defender off of him, and the Gold Ranger and Trint onto their backs. As that occurred, Gokai Slayer found his way to Beelzebub and laughed. "It's like looking at a former life…"

"You will… pay… for your… treachery…" Beelzebub coughed out as Gokai Slayer began slashing Beelzebub's face before stabbing him in the forehead.

"Dynamic Victory Charge!" Gaia Pink declared as her team got a clear shot. It sailed out of their combined weapons and blasted into Beelzebub's body.

"Ahh!" Beelzebub yelled, surprisingly still alive.

Ethereal Trinity flew up into the air and began shooting volley after volley into Beelzebub. "Do it now!"

Castiel knew this was meant for him. He nodded and, wings sprouting out of his back again, darted forward. He weaved around column after column of earth until he arrived at the stalwart Alpha Demon. As he did, flashes of his life that had been affected by Beelzebub passed through his mind.

He thought of the goodness of Michael and Victor's father, Camal, who saw someone who he had thought was in need named Lilith and how he had let her into the Ethereal Kingdom on Eden. He remembered how, suddenly, Victor had seemed to become corrupted by her, betraying everyone. He remembered watching as Lilith's accomplice, Caius, had appeared on Eden and had begun his slaughter. His heart was in pain once again as he remembered watching Caius plunge his blade into the benevolent King Camal. He remembered the feelings of betrayal he had toward Victor for causing the gruesome murder.

He recalled how Victor had reemerged suddenly as what he said was the Alpha Demon, shortly before a trio of heroes named Braska, Jecht, and Auron had given their lives to banish Caius and Lilith. He remembered Victor taking upon himself the name Beelzebub, and traveling the universe to amass an army of Demons under him.

After a few more memories of his life, leading up to that point, Castiel thought: _Today is the first step toward the end of all Demons._ With determination, he thrust the magical blade into Beelzebub's heart.

Beelzebub roared in pain. He could feel his body collapse due to his heart stopping. He coughed once before giving up the ghost.

As that happened, Ethereal Trinity landed a ways away, clutching at her left arm. She was in immense pain. She was having a heart attack.

 _Just like September said..._ The Gold Ranger thought as she bounded over to her sister while in Shadow Mode. _The details were off, but the main event still happened: Trinity did all she could to weaken Beelzebub and_ _poof_ _... heart attack. Her body is rejecting the Ethereal powers..._

Suddenly, a Time Vortex opened. From out of it walked September. "I must act quickly before the Freelancers sense my temporal disruptions. I may be able to mask myself, but if they are looking for me then they will definitely find my tinkering. If they follow my trail of tinkering with the Pattern..."

"Then they'll definitely find you," Gold Ranger replied as September made his way to Trinity-B, who was on her knees gasping for air.

"Shh..." September said. "You'll be fine momentarily."

Gold Ranger then watched as September touched Trinity-B on several places on her body. Trinity-B then went limp and fell to the sand.

"I have activated a mechanism found in all Triforians," September revealed to Tria-B. "This will put her in a deep sleep. To those who look at her, though... they will think she has passed on to the Afterlife."

"Okay, yeah... you didn't give me this part of the plan," Gold Ranger remarked. "So next we have her go through her funeral before bringing her back to the Hall of Legends, right?"

"Correct," September said. "Now go and tell Zordon what has happened. I need to monitor what Castiel was doing before this point. I am very curious..."

As September entered the Time Vortex, Gold Ranger bounded forward until she got close enough to Zordon-B and the aftermath of the Holy War. She could see Castiel speaking with Zordon-B. She tried getting closer to stay unseen while being able to yet hear everything.

While this occurred, September appeared in the Hall of Legends. "Have you learned anything about Castiel?"

"Apparently he was visiting with the Tribunal of Magic. They sent him on a mission to defeat Beelzebub because they felt guilty about not stopping Regina from becoming Bansheera," Zordon-A told the Rogue Watcher.

"Ah. And I believe I see Metatron landing on Earth now," Castiel said. He read the Time Crystal and looked to Guardian. "He plans on distributing the Books of Time? Interesting..."

"It seems to be on the docket of the plans from the Tribunal of Magic," Guardian said.

"They are an interesting lot. I can't quite read them..." September said as he looked down at the Time Crystal to read the scene. As he did, it flashed with Red, White, and Black Magic.

"Huh!?" Zrin cried out.

"No need for alarm..." A female voice said from the Time Crystal. "I am Mary from the Nathadians. I am the White Mage for the Tribunal of Magic."

"But... how!?" Alpha Ranger asked, breaking his silence from the Inner Sanctum.

"Our powers permit us to tap into Time Magic, but I cannot sustain this for long," Mary said. "I need you to go to Angel Grove and collect the Chronicles of the Universe from Metatron."

"Why?" Guardian asked. As he did, the Time Crystal shut down.

"So... Do we do it?" Zrin asked.

September sighed. "I guess we have no choice. The Tribunal does not seem to be evil in any way."

"I agree. Zordon? Zrin? Prepare yourselves to go to Earth," Guardian said.

"What!? Why me!?" Zordon-A protested.

"I agree with Guardian," September said. "I see something important for the other Zordon if you are the one to go. It will help."

Zordon-A sighed. "Whatever. Zrin? Let's get ready. Looks like I'm heading to Earth. One request, though."

"Yeah, Dad?' Zrin asked.

Zordon-A smiled. "Can I go as Zocato Ranger?"

Meanwhile on Earth, Trint saw the Gold Ranger eavesdropping on Castiel and Zordon-B and called out to her. "Hey! Tria!"

She sighed heavily, trying to hide the fact she was annoyed at being caught. "I guess I best give you back your powers," She said, trying to deviate his attention from the fact he had caught her spying.

Trint smiled. "I can't say I'm not happy for that."

He reached out his hand and grabbed the Power Staff, feeling the power be transferred back to him.

Having finished transferring the Gold Zeo Powers back to Trint, Tria-B decided to approach Alpha 4 and Zordon-B. Looking at Metatron and recognizing him from studying the Ethereals from the Hall of Legends, Tria-B greeted him.

Metatron looked at her in confusion. "Do I know you?"

She smiled. "No, but I know you. Why are you here?"

Metatron snapped his fingers and caused a small table to appear before him: his workstation. On it were several artifacts. "I am here on order of King Castiel."

Castiel groaned. "Have they already started calling me that again?"

Metatron nodded. "Yes, your highness. D told everyone what happened. You have been reinstated as King of Eden."

Zordon-B looked at Metatron. "What is the order?"

Tria-B watched in silence, not knowing what her brother-in-law meant by "the order". She looked on as Metatron nodded, pointing to each book.

"These are the Books of Time. King Castiel told me to bring these here. This is the Book of Prophecies. This is the Xenotome. This is the Scroll of Destiny. And this is my personal transcript, called the Chronicles of the Universe, where I have noted what has transpired and cross check the actual events with what the other three books have predicted."

Zordon-B looked to Castiel. "Why has the Tribunal of Magic asked for these to be brought here?"

At that, a Time Vortex appeared. From out of it, Zrin as the Nathadian Ranger stepped out along with Zordon-A as the Zocato Ranger.

"Nathadian Ranger," Zordon-B said, acknowledging him. Looking at the red one, Zordon-B asked: "And who are you?"

"I am the Zocato Ranger," Zordon-A said simply. He felt odd speaking to his Temporal Twin for the first time.

Nathadian Ranger nodded. "We are here because we know what is to happen next. We are here to pick up the Chronicles of the Universe, correct?"

Castiel nodded. "Yes. The Tribunal told me your nature. I do not know how you suppose to secure the Chronicles of the Universe, since they told me that it would decay where you preside, but they said you would be able to handle it."

Nathadian Zrin nodded. He thought about Trinity-B and how she was lying a few yards away in her deep sleep, but he shook his head unconsciously. He hadn't known that was to be the plan, and he was confused about why Zordon-B was being left in the dark about Trinity-B being yet alive. That wasn't his place to question it, though. He knew his orders. "We'll take care of it."

Castiel closed his eyes. He opened up his palm and recited an incantation he had learned from the Tribunal. Within moments, the Oracle walked out of a portal opened up by Castiel.

"I, the Oracle, have spoken to the Tribunal and have been awaiting you, King of the Ethereals. I will take the Book of Prophecy with me back to where I reign in the Magic Realm," The Oracle said.

Castiel nodded. He then looked around and stopped when his eyes fell upon Master Mao. "Mao, of the Order of the Claw."

"Yes, I am Mao... But we go by a new name. Since the fall of Dai Shi, to commemorate a new era of our people, we now go by the name of Pai Zhua."

"Then Mao of the Pai Zhua... I have been commissioned to give you the Scrolls of Destiny to take care of. Can you do this?" Castiel said.

Mao nodded. "Although I have not been given the benefit of speaking with this Tribunal of Magic beforehand, I know solely due to your acts today that you are trustworthy. Please know that I, too, will be trustworthy with the Scrolls of Destiny."

After the different books had been distributed, Castiel looked to Zordon-B. "Master Zordon... I thank you for your courage and diligence. I... I am sorry for your predicament, but I have faith that someday, you will have your freedom once again."

"Thank you, Castiel. And may the Power protect you," Zordon-B said.

Castiel looked to Metatron. Nodding, they both extended their wings and flew out, back to their home on the planet of Eden. As they all watched the Ethereals fly away, Tria-B slinked away to hide behind a rock. She needed to wait a few moments before revealing to Zordon-B what had happened to Trinity-B. When she felt the time was right, she left her hiding spot. As she did, Zocato Ranger met her to improve the quality of the scene they were fabricating, holding his sleeping mother in his arms. He hated himself for doing what he was about to do, but he knew he had to trust the Guardian and September. He looked down at the body of the Temporal Twin of his wife. It was odd seeing her, holding her again after so many thousands of years being in the Hall of Legends. After having destroyed the brainwashed Trinity-A thousands of years earlier in his own Timeline.

"Zordon! Zordon!" Tria-B screamed, running over to Alpha 4.

Zordon-B looked at her. His stomach was tied in knots as he saw what he knew not were fake tears streaming down her face. "What, Tria!? What is it!?"

Zocato Ranger walked forward, holding Trinity-B in his arms. He placed her at Alpha 4's feet. Clenching his fist in fake rage, he looked at Zordon-B. "On my way to this Timeline, the Guardian told me her fate was already sealed. She had used the last of her Lifeforce to shoot a blast of White Energy at Beelzebub. Without that hit, Beelzebub would have dodged Castiel and destroyed the Demon Blade. It was the fate, the destiny she had made for herself. I... I am very aware of what you are going through."

Zordon-B fell to his knees in the desert of his Time Warp. He screamed in anger. "You don't know anything! You and the Guardian just play god with our lives! You could have saved her!"

Zocato Zordon clenched his fists in anger. He wanted to yell about how he _had_ saved her. He decided to continue to put his faith in the Guardian instead, telling half truths to his Temporal Twin. "I had nothing to do with this! If I had known, I would have saved her! Your beef is with the Guardian, not me! I... I can't change anything! This is how it ends! There's no changing the past! I know that because I'm you!"

Demorphing, Zordon-A stood defiantly before the monitor leading to Zordon-B's Time Warp. He could feel his body slowly being attacked by the energy of the foreign Timeline, but he didn't care. He was overrun by emotion and he couldn't stand not being as face to face with his Temporal Twin as he could.

"What...?" Zordon-B asked in shock.

Saba-B shook his head. "I... I don't understand."

All the while, everyone in attendance for the post-war scene watched on in confusion and wonder.

Zordon-A's eyes began to become red as blood vessels burst due to the destructive powers hitting him from Timeline B. "I am closer to you than you think, Zordon. I, too, lost Trinity long, long ago. I guess it's Universal Equilibrium in a way."

Nathadian Ranger ran to him. "Dad! Stop!"

Zordon-B's eyes grew wide. "What? What!? I have a son!?"

Zordon-A sneered. His Twin's statement was the truth, but he didn't want to hear it. "No! He is _my_ son!"

A Time Vortex opened behind the two foreigners to the universe. Zocato Ranger grabbed his father by the arm and pulled. "This is not the time for this! We go now!"

Zordon-A nodded and looked at Tria. "Come!"

Tria-B shook her head. "Not yet... I will stay for now..."

"Come _now_!" Zordon-A demanded.

Tria-B glared at him. "I said I'm staying for now. Leave!"

Zordon-A morphed back into Zocato Ranger. As everyone watched the strange scene, Zocato and Nathadian Rangers turned and walked into the Time Vortex, disappearing.

As Tria-B grabbed the Chronicles of Time from the table Metatron had left behind, she turned and looked at Zordon-B's monitor staring helplessly at the body of his wife. He thought she was gone, which was grueling to watch. It made it ever so much worse for Tria-B, though, because she knew the truth. She knew that Trinity-B was yet alive.

"Trinity! No!" Zordon yelled. "No!"

. . .

 _ **One Day Later - The Hall of Legends**_

Zrin stood outside of a Time Vortex as the Nathadian Ranger. In his hands he held the book the Tribunal of Magic had requested for those in the Hall of Legends to hold: Metatron's Chronicles of the Universe. Floating in space next to the Time Vortex was an old Alliance ship with soldiers who fought for the Resistance (the group against the United Alliance of Evil).

The commander of the crew, Briggs, took the book offered to him from Nathadian Ranger's hands. "I will do all I can to guard this."

Nathadian Ranger nodded. "Thank you. Our... uh... _statisticians_ have seen that this is the best course for protecting this document."

"We will not let you down." Briggs said, saluting Nathadian Ranger. He had been ordered by Gosei to help those from the Hall of Legends (since Zordon-B no longer wanted anything to do with that crew, blaming them for Trinity-B's demise).

"Nathadian Blast! Meledon Conversion: Duplication!" Nathadian Ranger proclaimed. A beam of Nathadian Magic flew from the Nathadian Gem and caused a copy of the Chronicles of the Universe to appear in the commander's hands. As it appeared atop the original, Nathadian Ranger fought back a chuckle as the commander was caught offguard and almost lost his balance due to the new weight in his hands.

"May the Power protect you." Nathadian Ranger said as he took a step back into the Time Vortex. The commander saluted him once again as the vortex closed.

"Okay, men! You take this book and you take the other." Briggs ordered to two of his guards as they walked into the ship, the door closing behind them. "Put them in secure places."

"What course do you want the ship to go, sir?" One of the guards asked.

"Our next destination is-" The commander began. Before he could finish his sentence, though, he felt the ship began to rock.

The alarms began to blare. As they did, the computer began to speak: "Alert! Intruders! Alert!"

"Run! You two protect those books! No matter what!" Briggs yelled as he began to sprint toward his command chair. He knew not that he would not make it. A massive beast appeared before him, humanoid in nature but animal-like in features and behavior.

"Rargh!" It screamed, slashing at the commander.

In fear, he turned around and sprinted into a side room. He tripped over the body of one of his men and fell onto his face. As he did, he turned on a comm device he took out of a pouch on his suit and began shouting into the receiver. "If anybody can hear me, please help us! Help us, please! My ship is under attack! Please help!"

As he spoke, Briggs heard shouts of terror in the hall outside of the room. Pleading, he continued: "Is anybody out there!? Please... please help us...

"We are under attack! Help us! We cannot defend ourselves any longer! Can _anybody_ hear this!? Guardian!? Zordon!? Anyone!? Please! We can't continue like this! Please, please help us! We can't stop the attack! We can't keep going! Zordon!? Anyone, please!"

Briggs then realized his transmission was cut off as his device turned to static. He rolled onto his back to see what was occurring in the hallway behind him. Sparks were flying everywhere and his crew were running about in fright, being chased by the awful Monsters.

"What is happening!?" He cried out in confusion.

Meanwhile, outside the ship, a man floated in space as he watched the scene. As he floated, he put the finishing touches of his Time Magic based force field around the ship. He knew that the shield was strong enough so that no one could get past it. The Chronicles of the Universe would no longer be in the hands of those from Universe M54331Z.

The man, Prime, opened up a Time Vortex behind himself. His nose was bleeding as he did, due to the exertion placed on his body from using so much Time Magic. "Now, Zordon of Eltar... you _both_ will pay for what you've done to me. I lost everything after you ruined my Crisis. Now... Now I will ruin everything _you_ will try to do."

Prime then heard the final signal from Briggs before the Time Shield cut him off. "Oh, yes. I can hear you Briggs. It's a shame no one will ever hear you again. I hope you like my gifts from the Oblivion. Those beasts will either feed on you, or turn you into one of them. Either way, like I said... no one will ever hear from you again."

And with that, Prime turned around. He stepped through his Time Vortex and vanished. To where he went Future: Omega Ranger knew not. His Time Vortex was too complicated for him to follow and the file from Rip Hunter's wrist tech did not have any further info. All that was known was one thing: Prime was still alive, and he wanted revenge on Zordon. Both of them.

. . .

 _ **The Hall of Legends**_

"Where did it go!?" Zrin demanded as he looked at the Time Crystal.

"I don't know," Guardian answered, confused. "I got the distress call then... gone. The ship vanished."

Zordon-A pursed his lips. "I found it."

"How!?" Guardian asked, incredulous. "I don't see it anywhere on the Time Crystal."

Zordon-A breathed out deeply, the way he was known to when he was going to speak to people condescendingly. "I saw the last known location of the ship and how fast it was going and it's trajectory based on its approaching vector. It was simple math from there."

September smiled, not wanting to burst Zordon-A's bubble by saying he had found the ship before he had. "Very intelligent."

"It's... surrounded by Time Magic! How!?" Guardian gasped.

"That's what _we_ would like to know," The voice of the Black Mage of the Tribunal of Magic, Will, said as a Time Crystal flashed white, red, and black.

"We were thinking you may have been involved, but I suppose not," Baelfire said from the crystal, disappointment noticeable on his voice.

"Do you have any ideas?" Mary asked next.

September shook his head. "No, I am sorry."

Guardian nodded slowly as he thought. "It may have been the Traveler. Or the Supreme."

"But why?" Zrin asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Who knows... The only person able to keep up with their mentality would be September," Burai-A said.

September furrowed his brow. "I... I don't think it was either of them."

"Why?" Zordon-A asked.

"I just reviewed their energy traces and it does not match the signatures for Watchers or either of the two factions of Freelancers," September informed them. "It's just... different. Almost as if it was... I don't know how to say it in a way you'd understand... um... bootlegged?"

"Great," Orion-A said. "Now what? So it was someone like Mythical Master?"

"Possibly. There's no way to tell," September replied.

Alpha Ranger could be heard sighing. "Great. So now we have rogue dimension hoppers."

As Alpha Ranger said the name Rogue, something clicked in September's mind. He could suddenly see the whole thing: Prime floating above the ship and dropping seeds into it by vibrating his hand fast enough so it could go through the ship without destroying it. He watched as Prime attached a machine to his ear and began shooting pulses of Time Magic out at the ship, to encase it in the force field.

"Prime... It was Prime..." September said, falling to a knee as blood dripped out his nose and eyes. "I need rest. I exerted myself too much piercing whatever tech he is using to mask himself."

"Prime!? I thought we defeated him!" Zordon-A gasped.

"Apparently not. He must've survived..." Guardian remarked darkly.

"Now what!?" Zrin shouted. "The dude can Time travel! He can universe jump! What if he finds a way in here!?"

"He cannot Time travel... yet," September said. "I could feel some of his intention. He wants to travel back in Time to create Universe M54331Z Timeline C."

"No..." Burai-A said. "If he does that, he'll destroy and delete everyone in Timeline B. All of those lives..."

"Everything we've worked for, gone," Tria-B said, breaking her silence. "This is personal for me guys. Timeline B is my home! Those are my friends and family out there! We can't let him do this!"

"Then we won't." September said as he leaned on the Guardian's shoulder. "We will need to fortify this universe before Prime can delete it."

"How?" Zrin asked.

"By doing what my Temporal Twin has done with the future Timeline of the Alternate Universe. The Supreme created Time Barriers. If he can do it, then so can I," September said.

"I difficult will it be?" Orion-A asked.

"Very," Baelfire was heard saying via the Time Crystal. "We will help as much as we can."

"Thank you," September replied. "It is greatly appreciated."

"We'll need to start immediately." Burai-A said, looking to his former partner from the United Alliance's Research and Development. "Another project, for old time's sake?"

Although he had hated him when they first were put together by Sentinel Knight-A, Zordon-A had grown to love Burai-A like a brother. He placed a hand on Burai-A's shoulder and smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Can I name the project, then?" Burai-A asked, a gleam in his eye.

Zordon-A tried to stop a visible twitch. Even after all the years, he never could wrap his mind around Burai-A's project names, still upset over the names of Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser. Sighing, though, he nodded. "Go ahead."

Burai-A then turned to look at everyone in the room. "Okay, everyone. Project Time Force is in full swing! Let's do it!"

. . .

 _ **Three Days Later - Universe M54331Z Timeline B**_

The funeral had been an emotional event for Zordon-B, having his wife buried . He knew Dark Specter was still out and about, though, so he had Alpha 4 walk his monitor down the corridor toward the main base's lab. The Robot walked carefully to not drop the monitor, turning a corner to another hallway with great care. As he turned, he was surprised to find Tria-B waiting at the end of the hall.

Zordon-B's eyes grew wide. "Tria!? I need to speak with you urgently!"

Tria-B sighed. September had explained to her and the rest of the Hall of Legends the need to keep things secret from Zordon-B. September had seen the only way to save Trinity-B was to ensure everyone in Timeline B thought she had not survived. Not only would her death feel real to everyone and not change the course of events for saving the universe, but it would also add more fuel to Zordon-B's resolve to become the champion the universe would need him to become. She still felt awful, though, lying to him in such a manner. She had to keep telling herself it was for the greater good.

"I... I have something to show you."

She pulled out a small crystal September had given to her and pointed it at the wall beside her. Suddenly, a hologram appeared on the wall. Zordon-B watched in wonder as he saw Trinity-B standing beside the Reaper, D. He watched as a white portal was before her.

"What is this?" Zordon-B asked.

"This is a clip of when Trinity crossed over to the Afterlife," Tria-B lied. It was, in fact, an animation rendered by Zordon-A and September. None of it was real.

"Why show me this?" Zordon-B wondered aloud as he kept his eyes glued to the fake movie.

"To let you know she is fine. Just not... here," Tria-B said as a half truth.

Zordon-B watched as D helped her to the portal. Looking closely, Zordon-B was able to perceive some figures standing in the white portal, hands outstretched toward Trinity-B: Dulcea, Orion-B, App, Animus, and Burai-B. Right before she walked through, Zordon saw her look back and stare at the monitor housing Zordon's face. His heart jumped into his throat as he watched her blow him a kiss goodbye. Then, taking Dulcea by the hand, she was pulled up into the Afterlife.

"You are a brave man, Zordon. I am extremely blessed to have known you," Tria-B said, a Time Vortex appearing behind her. She knew her time and deceit were finally done.

"Where are you going? Why won't you tell me more!?" Zordon-B demanded.

"It's for your own good, Zordon. The future needs to have some stability, and Time stuff... I can't explain it well. Hopefully someday, we can have a real conversation about it," Tria-B said. Waving good, she stepped into the Time Vortex and back to the Hall of Legends.

As she looked around, she saw Nathadian Ranger step out of another Time Vortex, carrying the sleeping body of Trinity-B in his arms. She watched with bated breath as he demorphed into Zordon-A and placed her on a table. September then stepped forward and touched her in several spots.

"Huuuunh!" Trinity-B gasped, shooting up to a sitting position. "What happened!? Where am I!? Z... Zordon!? You're old again!"

Zordon-A frowned. "I don't look _that_ old, do I?"

Tria-B stepped forward, smiling. "Hello, Sis. There's a lot we need to explain to you."

. . .

 _ **8000 BC - Universe M54431Z Timeline B**_

Future: Omega Ranger watched as the file from the Linear Man named Rip Hunter suddenly panned out in an unknown part of space. As he did, he saw a Time Vortex open. From the Time Vortex emerged Prime.

Placing a small device to his ear, Prime's eyes began to glow with purple Time Magic. As that happened, Omega watched Prime tap into the Speed Force. Prime's hands were vibrating quicker than anything Omega had ever seen, his Third Eye ability the only reason he was able to comprehend the movements. As the hands moved, Time Magic danced over them. Omega found himself gasping as Prime did something he had not conceived possible: he watched as Prime dug his hands into the fabric of Space and Time.

A brilliant purple gash appeared in the Space before Prime. He then floated back a bit as he stopped vibrating, watching the gash glow brightly. As he watched, he wiped some blood which had been dripping down his nose.

Suddenly, three orbs of light flew out of the gash. As the orbs did so, Prime shot a concentrated blast of Time Magic at the rip in the seems of Space/Time. After it closed, the three orbs began to take form. Humanoid form. A few moments later the orbs were completely formed. Who they were shocked Future: Omega Ranger. The people he saw floating in space before Prime were none other than Baelfire, Mary, and Will.

"It's about time..." Baelfire said, stretching out his arms.

Prime smirked. "Was that a play on words?"

Ignoring Prime, the three looked around. "Wow... after all this time... It feels so odd to finally be out of the Universal Magic Grid."

"So this is the new Timeline, huh?" Will asked. "Hmph. Looks the same as ours."

"It's the small things that make the difference." Baelfire replied before turning to look at Prime. "Now, remember... our deal doesn't end here. You'll only get our help if we get yours."

Prime nodded. "Of course. You help me perfect my Time Magic so I can create Timeline C. In return, I'll help you find out where your Twins are hiding Dulcea."

"I'm glad we're understanding each other," Baelfire replied curtly.

"I'm confused, though," Mary said. "This place is called Timeline B. So we're from Timeline A. How is it that the power of this universe isn't deteriorating us?"

Prime smiled. "I made sure to do my research before I reached out to pull you out. You lot were in the Universal Magic Grid for so long that you have a lot of Magic... _coating_ you. It's protecting you from this foreign Timeline."

"Excellent. So now that we're done with the pleasantries, what next?" Will asked, folding his arms in irritation.

"Now?" Prime said as he opened a Time Vortex. "Now we go traveling. There's work to be done."


	5. 1900: Zordon and The Hall of Legends

**1900: Zordon and the Hall of Legends**

 _ **1900 AD - Earth M54331Z-B ("B" Signifying Timeline B)**_

The tube in the Command Center came to life. As it did, the distorted face of the man trapped in a Time Warp appeared. It was the face of Zordon of Eltar.

"Alpha," He said to his robotic assistant. "I would like an update on the Samurai Rangers."

Alpha 4 nodded. "The latest battle is still hurting them badly."

"I'm not surprised," Zordon said from his Time Warp through the tube. The tech they had used to create the Command Center was powerful enough to be able to allow him minimal transmission. Tech powered directly by the Morphing Grid. "The Green Ranger lost his Life in that last battle... By the way, do they have an heir to replace him?"

"Yes. Only one, though. Mai Watanabe, the wife of the current Pink Ranger," Alpha 4 reported. "She married into the Watanabe Clan, but since she is the last blood heir to the line of Green Samurai Rangers, she was called upon."

"How is the Mai taking it?" Zordon asked. He knew far too well the pains of losing a loved one. Having lost her brother could prove too stressful for her to take his mantle.

"She is shaken, but has accepted," The sentient Robot replied.

"Hmm... And what about her husband, the Pink Ranger?" Zordon asked.

As he asked this, his companion in the Time Warp tugged on his pant leg. "Zordon! You can't micromanage like this! You delegated the responsibility of the Nighlok to the Samurai Rangers and their Guardians. This is none of your business! We have our _own_ work to do!"

Unaware Saba had said anything (mostly due to Zordon ignoring Saba's words), Alpha answered: "He is upset. He does not wish to endanger his wife."

"That's more than understandable..." Zordon said.

Alpha 4 suddenly realized the correlation between what the Pink Samurai Ranger was feeling about putting his wife in the line of fire, and what happened to Zordon's wife, Trinity, nearly ten thousand years earlier. He bowed his head, sadness filling his circuits.

"Oh, Zordon... I know you still miss Trinity. Would you like to speak to the Pink Ranger yourself? Maybe it would be... cathartic... to speak about it?" Alpha 4 suggested.

Zordon closed his eyes. He could feel a tuft of blue hair fall onto his forehead. Blowing it up with his breath, he opened his eyes and looked up at the hologram showing the automaton. "Yes, I think it would be good. The greater good is at stake and I think I can help him get to the point where he will be understanding of his wife. It's her choice, not his. He needs to live with that."

Suddenly, all of the lights dimmed in the Command Center. The hologram floating in the air above the desert of Zordon and Saba's desert began to flicker in and out. Zordon furrowed his brow, looking down to Saba.

"This is new..." Saba commented, his tail sticking straight up as he fell to attention of the phenomenon.

"Oh, Zordon..." A voice said in the Command Center. As it spoke, everything suddenly went back online.

Spinning around, Alpha 4 peered into a dark corner of the Command Center next to Zordon's Viewing Globe. "Who's there!? I demand you show yourself! No one is allowed entry here without a Power Coin!"

The voice chuckled. It obviously belonged to that of a male. "Oh, you foolish Robot. I come and go as I please."

Zordon watched as the figure stepped out into the light. He did not recognize the man, but Future: Omega Ranger (who was watching the file of the past event from the year 2050 via Rip Hunter's wrist tech his ally, Sophie the Cyborg, had hacked into) did. It was the Rogue Watcher, Prime.

"Alpha! Use a containment field!" Zordon yelled.

"Already on it!" Alpha 4 declared, punching some buttons to his right on a control panel. Suddenly, a containment bubble of pure Morphing Energy surrounded Prime.

"Oh, no!" Prime gasped, putting a hand up to his mouth. "You got me! Wo is me! Oh, wait..."

Zordon watched in awe as an energy he had not seen, Anti-Morphing Energy, erupted from Prime's hands. The containment shield vanished as Prime stepped forward.

"Get out of our Command Center!" Alpha 4 screamed. He charged himself full of Morphing Energy, running at Prime.

"No!" Saba yelled. Both he and Zordon knew that for the past few decades Alpha 4 had been running on less than optimal capacity, due to a time when he helped the Samurai Rangers hold back a Nighlok invasion at a place that had later been named the Tengen Gate.

Prime laughed as he watched Alpha 4 rush him. "You'll overload your circuits."

Zordon sneered as he saw Prime zoom over to another side of the Command Center before Alpha 4 could reach him. Alpha 4 quickly stopped and turned again to try and get to Prime in his new location. As soon as he had gotten close, Prime once again sprinted away, using a powerful speed enhancing field of energy in the universe known as the Speed Force.

"He's _playing_ with him..." Zordon said out loud, realizing Prime was trying to get Alpha 4 to overload. "Alpha! Stop! It's a trap!"

It was too late. Alpha 4's body had been fully saturated with Morphing Energy. The circuitry and metal frame could not take the power any longer. Alpha 4 slowly began to stumble before falling to his knees.

"Alpha!" Zordon screamed, fists clenching. He was at that time already amassing Nathadian Magic to try and attack Prime from his Time Warp. He had been able to cast a spell that transcended the barriers of his Time Warp to his home universe once before. He was readying himself to do so once again.

Prime walked calmly over to Alpha 4, smiling. "Silly toy you have here, Zordon. His dedication to you is admirable. He's been with you for nearly ten thousand years if my memory serves me correctly. Of course it was only after you and I had our little... _meeting_."

"I've never seen you before in my life," Zordon spat as the Nathadian Magic filled him.

"Zordon! Remember what happened last time! This is dangerous!" Saba warned.

"Yes we _have_. You just don't remember," Prime said. "I guess I have need to jog your memory. First thing's first, though."

Before anyone could react, Prime vibrated his hand using the Speed Force and thrust it into Alpha 4's body. A flash of light erupted through Alpha 4 before smoke started piling out of his body. He fell to the ground, the red light on his head slowly dying down.

"Zo...rdon... Run... Ru...n... Rrrrr..." Alpha 4 said as he went offline.

"No! No!" Zordon screamed. Red Nathadian Magic was glowing around him, yet he didn't feel he had enough power to get an attack to hit Prime.

Prime looked up at the tube. "Hmm... Don't waste your energy, Zordon. You'll only get tired. Perhaps we should do this face to face..."

Zordon furrowed his brow as he saw a Time Vortex open up in the Command Center. He watched as Prime stepped into it. As he did, Zordon heard something behind him. Turning around slowly, fairly certain of what he would see, Zordon readied himself.

Prime stepped onto the sand of the Time Warp. He took in a deep breath and frowned. "Yuck. Air's pretty stagnant here. Sorry you've had to put up with this for the past ten thousand years."

"Rwar!" Saba roared, leaping forward to attack Prime.

The Rogue Watcher rolled his eyes in annoyance. He moved quicker than either of the inhabitants of the Time Warp could track and caught Saba midair by the throat. He then tossed him away as if he were a ragdoll.

Landing beside Zordon on all fours, Saba hissed at Prime. His hairs were standing on end and his Red Tiger Spirit Energy was dancing around him. He was very angry.

"Ancient source: Meledon force," Zordon said calmly as his ranger suit enveloped him.

Prime smiled. "I guess this is as good an icebreaker as any..."

Watching with amusement, Prime stood unmoving as Meledon Ranger rushed at him. He watched as Meledon Ranger rushed at him, thrusting his red saber out as an attack.

"Pathetic." Prime said as he moved quickly, ripping the blade out of Meledon's hands.

"Impossible!" Meledon Ranger cried out. "There is no Speed Force here!"

"Yes, which is a bit of an annoyance." Prime answered, casually throwing the saber to the side. "And I didn't need to use Speed Force to disarm you. Let's just say it's in my genes."

"What do you want!?" Saba growled angrily.

"Ah. Excellent," Prime said. "A segue to get to the point. You see, I met you before, Zordon. You were living happily with your wife. Your _pregnant_ wife."

Meledon scoffed. "You have the wrong man in mind."

"No, I don't." Prime said, pacing before Meledon. "Your wife, Mr. Zoltar, was pregnant. I attacked the multiverse, trying to merge it into one singularity which I could absorb. You and your idiotic friends from the Hall of Legends battled me. In the fight your wife got hit with an exceptional amount of Time Magic. She gave birth right then and there, naming the child Zrin. Eventually you and your entire family got together and pushed me back. You restored the multiverse and had a happily ever after. Except you _didn't_. Your Temporal Twin, the Zordon you met ten thousand years ago after Trinity died took Zrin for himself. That boy you saw calling him 'father' isn't his son. He's your stolen son."

Meledon Ranger folded his arms across his chest. "Nice tale. I don't believe you."

Prime smiled. He then planted his feet and ran at Meledon as fast as he could. Meledon grabbed at him, trying to stay in position to support himself as the two wrestled each other. Falling to the sand as Saba jumped into the fray, Prime put his hands on Meledon Ranger's helmet and began to pump surges of Time Magic into him. He then pushed himself off, kicking Saba away as he did.

"Agh!" Meledon Ranger cried out in pain. "What have you done to me!?"

"I've opened up your mind, Zordon," Prime said. "Over time you'll begin to remember what the universe took from you: memories of the Crisis Crunch. Memories of what The Guardian did to you."

"Why are you doing this!?" Meledon demanded. Prime was obviously strong enough to destroy him, yet he had not. He was confused as to Prime's end game.

"Because you and your family took everything from me. I have to use tech to access my powers. It's an awful existence I have to endure. And I blame you." Prime said, sneering. "I'm now on track to getting my life back and all the power I was supposed to have. On the way, though, I am going to make sure to make your life an eternal torment. Just think of Alpha's destruction as a taste of what's to come. And you should probably get a hold of The Guardian if you want to speak to your son again. Oh, and your wife is still alive. The Guardian is keeping her with him."

As he said that, Prime caused a Time Vortex to appear. He calmly walked into it, vanishing along with the doorway. Meledon watched in despair as his way to leave his Time Warp was gone.

Saba crawled over to Meledon, wracked with pain. "Zordon?"

Demorphing, Zordon lay on the sand, heaving and puffing. His lungs felt as if they were on fire. "I'm starting to... remember... I think he... was... telling the truth..."

"Don't be a fool!" Saba demanded. "He just planted fake memories in you to torture you!"

Zordon rolled off his back and onto his stomach. "Maybe, maybe not. There's only one way to find out."

"How?" Saba asked as he watched Zordon climb to his feet.

Zordon stood up tall, an image of him alongside Trinity, Zrin, Raine, Laguna, the other Zordon, and his sister Ellone (albeit looking older) preparing to fight Prime fresh in his mind. "By contacting The Guardian."

. . .

 _ **1900 AD - Magic Realm of Earth M54331Z-B**_

The Oracle sighed as he heard Zordon's request. Sitting with him around his desk were members of the Council of Magic named Lean, Geron, Niti, and Jewel. "Okay, um... Well we haven't really mastered Time Magic, Zordon of Eltar. It's just barely more than a hypothesis for us."

"You and I both know my Meledon Scan has never been wrong," Zordon said via the small screen on the Oracle's desk. "I scanned the residual traces of the magic and it is a mix of Red Nathadian Magic with Blue Magic. A purple colored Magic called Time Magic."

Oracle sighed once again. "Zordon... we have nothing comparable to Nathadian Magic. Now that we know it is involved, there is really nothing we can do to help you."

"I can help!" A voice said from the other side of the room.

"Who said that?" Zordon asked.

Geron sighed as he looked down. "Please just ignore him."

"No. Do not tell me what to do," Zordon demanded, some of his old fire coming back.

Lean smiled. "You heard the man. Tell him."

Geron groaned. "It was my son. His name is Daggeron. And he's not supposed to _be_ in here."

The young man standing at the door on the other side of the room, Daggeron, blushed a bit. "Sorry, Dad. It's just that I was in the hall and I overheard you all and that you were speaking to Zordon of Eltar and I got curious..."

"You said you can help?" Zordon asked, hearing the young man end his speaking.

"No, he can't," Geron said sternly. "He wants to forsake the ways of magic and focus solely on _science_."

"No, that's not it at all!" Daggeron protested. "Why can't you understand!? Science doesn't disprove magic at all! It only _explains_ magic. It's a force like any other. A _supernatural_ force, by a force all the same! It can create the most confusing diagrams one can think of, but if one buckles down and really focuses, then it's possible to quantify it!"

"Hogwash," Was Geron's only reply.

"I want him," Zordon said.

"What!?" Was the audible gasp from those sitting at Oracle's desk.

"He is of no use to you nonbelievers," Zordon said authoritatively. "And there are other things you lot need to attend to. The Pai Zhua are having a most difficult time holding Ra's al Ghul back. His League of Assassins are growing in strength and power. You need to focus on that. I feel he is only the beginning of something truly horrible."

"You really think Dark Specter is behind Master Cowl going rogue from the Pai Zhua and becoming Ra's al Ghul, don't you?" Lean asked.

"Immensely," Zordon replied. "And I believe Master Cowl may have had this in mind since the beginning. He's been lying in wait. Who knows how many other sleeper agents Dark Specter has. We must stay vigilant."

"Well, I can assure you that no one here in the Magic Realm is in cahoots with Dark Specter," Oracle said with confidence.

"I can only pray you are right. As for you, Daggeron? You know where my Command Center is. Open a portal to that building. I will let you in once you arrive," Zordon said. "I wish you all the best in your endeavors in the meantime. May the Power protect you."

Geron sighed as Zordon signed off. "Well, you heard him Daggeron. Go on. And please don't make a fool of yourself or our family."

Smiling from ear to ear, Daggeron nodded and rushed out of the room. He raced out of the hallway leading to the desk of the administrators and found himself in the hallways of the North Academy of Magic. Still wearing a smile on his face, he turned and ran in the direction of his science locker to grab his tech.

As he ran, he heard someone shouting behind him. "Hey, Daggeron! Haha! Wait up!"

Stopping on a dime, Daggeron turned to see his friend, Calindor, running to catch up with him. "Hey, Calindor! I'm sorry, it's just that I'm in a big hurry!"

"Yeah, I know you are. We _both_ are. It's just that you are going in the _wrong direction_!" Calindor said as he laughed, trying to move Daggeron to follow him.

"Huh?" Daggeron asked in confusion.

"Daggeron! It's our final practice before tomorrow's big game!" Calindor proclaimed, laughing. "You forgot!?"

"Oh, it's just... Ugh! Zordon of Eltar has just commissioned me to help him!" Daggeron exclaimed in excitement.

Calindor looked at Daggeron in shock. " _The_ Zordon of Eltar? Angel Grove? Command Center?"

"Yes!" Daggeron said. "It's the chance of a lifetime!"

Calindor rubbed his temples. "It's science related, right?"

"You bet!" Daggeron answered happily.

"Well, whatever it is it'll need to wait," Calindor said. " _That's_ not your big opportunity. Making sure we win tomorrow's game of Mage Ball against South Academy is. You just got bumped up to Varsity by the team captain. Don't blow it now, man! This could be a huge scholarship for you. And me!"

Daggeron sighed. "You didn't hear what Zordon was saying, though. He said that there are huge problems on Earth. Dark Specter is rising. Zordon even thinks there may be agents of the United Alliance of Evil here in the Magic Realm!"

Calindor looked shocked. "Wow... Bad guys? Traitors? That's crazy..."

"So... please tell Captain Leanbow that I will be there for the game tomorrow and that I was summoned by Zordon. I'm sure he'll understand. As long as you tell him I'm doing the _honorable_ thing, I'm _positive_ he won't complain." Daggeron said, smiling as he turned and ran back on course to the science lab.

Calindor threw his arms up into the air. "Fine, I guess..." He then turned and began to make his way back to the practice field. As he did, though, a hand grabbed him and pulled him into an empty classroom.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?" Calindor yelled. He then stopped and swallowed as he saw who had grabbed him: none other than Ra's al Ghul's right hand man: the Joker. It had been the first time since he had seen him as the Joker, actually. The man had once been known as a member of the Pai Zhua named Jaq. He was a carrier of the Hyena Spirit and had been a Pai Zhua Master hopeful. He was one of many members of the Pai Zhua who had revealed themselves as members of the League of Assassins when Ra's al Ghul began his campaign for conquest.

It had been rather unfortunate how Jaq had grown to look the way his did, with a permanent red grin on his face, pale white skin and green hair. He had been trying to steal some chemicals from a facility for one of Ra's al Ghul's Youth Pits when a group of Pai Zhua led by Master Swoop had come in and stopped them. During the fight, Swoop had hit Jaq and caused him to flee. As he did, he tripped over a chain and fell off a walkway and into a vat of chemicals. They distorted his figure so much that he went slightly insane. He had already been a bit of a prankster before, but it was more and more of who had had become after the accident. He decided from that point forward to be known as the Joker.

"Oh, Jaq... I..." Calindor began.

"It's _Joker_ now," The man said angrily. He then softened his expression and stuck out his hand. "No hard feelings, though. Put 'er there."

Calindor accepted the invitation and took Joker's hand to shake it as a truce. As he did, though, jolts of pain flew through his body. He quickly let go of Joker's hand and fell to his knees.

Joker began cackling, showing the buzzer in his hand to the hurt Calindor. "Woo-hoo! You should've seen the look on your dumb little face!"

"What... do you... want?" Calindor managed to gasp out as he was on all fours on the ground.

"Oh, Dark Specter wants to know if you were able to stop Daggeron from going to Zordon," Joker said. Dark Specter had intercepted the transmission and sent Calindor, one of his sleeper agents, to try and stop Daggeron.

"... No... I couldn't," Calindor replied.

Joker forced his face into a frown. He then smiled, shrugged, and kicked Calindor in the gut as hard as he could. "Next time, don't fail."

Calindor heard Joker teleport away. As he did, he sneered. "I'll try and remember that. Jerk."

"I heard that!" Joker said, suddenly appearing behind Calindor and whacking him in the back of the neck with a bag filled with bricks he pulled out of seemingly nowhere. He then teleported away again.

"Ugh..." Calindor moaned as he pulled himself up, rubbing the back of his neck. He then composed himself and forced his bruised body to leave the room. He had practive to attend and he knew Leanbow was waiting for him.

. . .

 _ **1900 AD - Earth M54331Z-B**_

"You are quite intelligent." Zordon said as he watched Daggeron work on a small contraption before his tube in the Command Center. "I am sorry, though, for the lack of assistance I can provide: my assistant, Alpha, had a bit of an _accident_ and is being uploaded to a new frame."

Daggeron smiled. "No, no! It's not a problem at all! I know you'd be here working right alongside me if you could."

"That is true..." Zordon replied. "Now, Daggeron... What do you think of the current events occurring on Earth?"

As Daggeron worked, he sighed heavily. "I believe things are on the brink of a technological boom. Any moment and Humans will be creating great feats. I mean, they are already starting to circulate the automobile!"

Zordon chuckled. "Between you and me... that was my doing."

Daggeron's eyes widened. "What!?"

"I created two vehicles eons ago with a good friend of mine. They were called Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser. I leaked basic instructions for those vehicles and, well... the automobile was born," Zordon said proudly.

"Oh, if the Oracle knew about that..." Daggeron stated, not finishing his sentence.

Chuckling yet again, Zordon nodded. "Yes, yes. Us higher beings are not to interfere. I do have my own time table, though. We must be ready for Dark Specter."

Daggeron's face saddened at Dark Specter's name. "Yeah... some of my professors have said that Dark Specter is nothing more than a myth now. They say that people like Ra's al Ghul are the real threats and he wants us to look for something bigger. They say Dark Specter probably passed away eons ago."

Saba sneered as he overheard Daggeron. He had been running laps in a circle nearby, trying to help with the boredom, but stopped to listen. "Hmph! That's what they're teaching in schools now!?"

Zordon shared Saba's disgust. "That is exactly what a mastermind like Dark Specter wants everyone to believe. If everyone believes him to be gone, then no one will be on watch for him and his evil machinations. There is no doubt in my mind that Ra's is working for the United Alliance of Evil, but in the end... this is still Dark Specter's handiwork. The time is soon coming when we will need to defend ourselves from him."

"Well, I for one believe it to be true," Daggeron said. "But I think we're in good hands. We have the Pai Zhua, the Knights of the Magic Realm, the Ninja Academies, various rangers... We also have some smart Humans like Howard Stark and Lucius Fox. When Dark Specter hits, I think Earth will be prepared."

Zordon sighed. "I can only hope so. According to an old document I found, the best way to mold a team is around ATTITUDE."

Daggeron smiled. "Well, I guess we all have attitude..."

"It is actually an acronym, Daggeron," Zordon replied. "Each letter means something."

"Oh, really? May I know?" Daggeron asked curiously.

"Okay. Let's see here... 'A' stands for awareness. One must be aware of the reality around them and their place in it to live according to a way which will lead to success. Otherwise they are deluding themselves.

"The first 'T' stands for tempered. Those who have ATTITUDE are well-balanced and do not lose their sense of judgment, even in the face of danger.

"The following 'T' means trustworthy. If someone is unable to be trusted, there can be no team dynamic.

"Next comes the 'I', which means inspirational. Clearly every team needs a leader, but each member of the team must be able to provide inspiration for their teammates and lead when the appropriate time presents itself. A team is only as strong as its weakest link

"The final 'T' stands for teachable. Someone with ATTITUDE must be humble enough to see when they are wrong and be able to change accordingly once their errors are brought to life.

"'U' is the next letter in ATTITUDE. It means unity. A team must be united in their efforts, or else they will scatter and be destroyed.

"The 'D' is for determination. If I am to have a team and give them a task, I want them to be able to give it their all and strive forward, even when things get difficult.

"And finally the 'E'. It means endowed. Anyone who becomes a member of a team is endowed with power. A power of being a part of a team and knowing others trust you and depend on you."

Daggeron realized he had stopped working before cranking on his machine once again. "Wow... I hope one day I can get ATTITUDE... Um, I noticed you mentioned that you are creating a team...?"

Zordon nodded solemnly. "We are putting the final touches on power regulators for Morphing Grid totems. They are called Power Coins. They are being developed for a team of rangers whose sole goal is to protect the Command Center."

"Makes sense," Daggeron said. "You did channel the entire Morphing Grid into this building..."

Saba cocked an eyebrow. "Noticed how he said that?"

Zordon nodded. "Daggeron? What do your professors think of that decision I made?"

Daggeron swallowed. "Oh, you don't want to hear any of that..."

"Yes, I do," Zordon answered simply.

Daggeron sat in silence for a moment. He had felt up until that point he had the opportunity of a lifetime to work directly for Zordon of Eltar. Not only work for him, but have a _conversation_ with him. At that point, though, Daggeron wished he was anywhere but there.

"Well, one of my professors commented that it was incredible hubris on your part to do such a thing," Daggeron finally answered, breaking the awkward silence. "Many believe you had no right to channel an entire supernatural field into your Command Center. If you fall to the hands of evil, it's all over. Whoever takes this Command Center would potentially have access to the entire Morphing Grid."

"And what do you think?" Zordon asked.

Daggeron smiled. "I think that you're Zordon of Eltar. Mastermind behind the fall of Beelzebub and the Holy War. Survivor of the Final Siege. Organizer of the Great Resistance. If you think the Morphing Grid is safe in your hands, then I trust you unconditionally."

Zordon smiled. "Thank you, Daggeron."

"And right on cue." Daggeron commented as he stood up. "Your communicator is online. It's very powerful, connected to the Command Center and, by extension, the Morphing Grid."

"Excellent. Let me begin..." Zordon said. He then began a Nathadian Scan on the spot where The Guardian had appeared eons earlier, explaining Zordon and Saba's Nathadian origins to them via hologram.

"Input the following numbers..." Zordon said.

Daggeron listened carefully at each number, inputting them into the algorithm in his high powered communicator he had built from Zordon's specs. A moment later, after the last digit, a swirl of blue light erupted before him. The young man stared wide eyed as a bald man appeared in the light. A hologram of September.

"I am impressed you were able to target the Hall of Legends, Zordon," September said simply. Future: Omega Ranger attempted to see what was occurring in the Hall of Legends during that time, but since it was not a Memory Sphere but a file from Time Force's Linear Men he was unable to crack the powerful barrier separating the Hall of Legends from the realm of space/Time.

"I have _many_ questions for you," Zordon said angrily.

September sighed. "Did Prime do this? Did he coerce you into finding us?"

Zordon furrowed his brow. "Who is he!?"

"A very evil man intent on destroying the multiverse," September replied. "He has been blocked from finding us, but now that you have used your Nathadian Magic to track the exact location... if you can call it a location... outside of your universe it will only be a matter of moments before he attacks us."

 _Multiverse!? Beings from outside of the fabric of space and Time!?_ Daggeron thought in shock as he watched the exchange between Zordon and September.

"Is my wife alive!?" Zordon demanded, unsympathetic toward whatever plight those in the Hall were having.

"Yes. She is here," September said. "She is currently trying to fortify the defenses of the Hall against Prime."

"I must speak with here!" Zordon demanded.

"Okay, Zordon. I unders-" September began. Before he could finish, the hologram vanished.

"Where is he!?" Zordon yelled. "Daggeron? Bring him back!"

"I... I... I can't!" Daggeron spat out, sweating from stress as he attempted to retune the machine. "A massive field of energy is blocking my transmission. It's changing constantly and I cannot calculate anything to get around it!"

"It must be Prime..." Saba said. "I think we were tricked."

"I don't care," Zordon said. "They _do_ have Trinity. They've kept my wife from me for nine thousand years! My son for even longer!"

"Zordon!" A voice echoed through the Time Warp. Looking around, a hologram of Nathadian Ranger appeared. "I don't have much time! I am your son, Zrin! Look behind me and you will find a way out of this mess!"

"Zordon!?" Daggeron shouted from the Command Center.

As Zordon abandoned his spot from where he normally transmitted his face, Saba pounced forward and took his place. Daggeron staggered back as a feline face appeared in the tube.

"Ah!" Daggeron yelped.

"Return home, Daggeron!" Saba ordered. "And do not tell anyone of what you have seen here today."

"Are you the legendary old friend of Zordon? Saba!?" Daggeron asked, wide eyed.

"Yes, now go home!" Saba insisted.

"Wow! I... You were rumored to have been destroyed eons ago! Amazing!" Daggeron continued in awe.

"Go!" Saba yelled.

"Right, right..." Daggeron said, typing in the coordinates in the Command Center's console for his school. Grey Morphing Energy surrounded him and teleported him back to the Magic Realm.

Landing in his science lab, Daggeron was lost in thought. He looked at the device in his hands and what had just occurred and smiled. He knew he had just found what his field of study would be for the rest of his life: a study of the multiverse and the ability to cross from one plane of reality to another.

. . .

 _ **Time Warp of M54331Z-B1**_

Zordon looked behind the hologram of Nathadian Ranger as it vanished. Zordon took note of the distress in Nathadian Zrin's voice. It sounded as if he had been fighting. Looking off into the distance Zordon was floored to see what looked to be a blue figure waving arms wildly to get Zordon's attention.

"I... I have never experienced a mirage here," Saba commented, slack jawed.

"That's because it's not." Zordon commented, frowning. "Let's go."

Within moments, Zordon and Saba had climbed up the hill to meet the figure standing before him. They were face to face with Ninjor.

Zordon emanated fury at the armored man. "Who are you!?"

"My name is Jor," Ninjor said. He had been told by September to not reveal his full identity to Zordon and was complying. "Follow me. I have a way to help you."

"Why should I trust you!?" Saba demanded, protracting his claws.

"Because I was sent by the Tribunal of Magic." Ninjor said as he turned and motioned for the two to follow him. As they descended the sandy dune, they found themselves standing before the Undead guardian to the Tribunal.

"Another visit so soon, eh?" The guardian of the key to the Tribunal questioned Ninjor, chuckling. "Must be a busy time for you."

Snapping his fingers, a mighty legion of Undead warriors appeared, rushing toward the trio. As they did, Saba's hair stood up on end as Ninjor produced his sword.

"To get out of here, we must fight!" Ninjor proclaimed.

Zordon sneered, anger shown obviously on his face. "All of this time? This was here all of this time? We walked and walked and walked around here for thousands of years. How did we miss this!?"

Leaping onto an Undead fighter, Saba snarled. "Perhaps these fighters only appear at certain times?"

"Ridiculous." Zordon said as he turned and punched an Undead warrior in the face. "This is all one big, ridiculous joke. Ancient source: Meledon force!"

A blast of Morphing Energy erupted from behind Zordon as he morphed into Meledon Ranger. The exhaust threw many Undead up and into the air. Zordon was in the zone, and he could feel every bit of his Nathadian Magic and Morphing Energy coursing through him. Glowing with Red Magic and Red Morphing Energy, Meledon Ranger blasted forward in a streak of power. Moving at unbelievable speeds, even without the aid of the Speed Force, Meledon Ranger slashed and stabbed at every enemy in the field.

"Amazing..." Ninjor said in awe, lowering his blade.

"I've never seen so much power," Saba remarked as well.

As the last fighter fell, Ninjor ran over and grabbed a key that appeared in the midst of the field. "Follow me!"

"Answers!" Meledon Ranger demanded, stomping over to Ninjor. "I want answers _now_! How did you get here?"

"I... I have had access to this place for many, many centuries," Ninjor admitted. "It is a place I use to cross over to meet the Tribunal of Magic. You appeared here one day, but I was admonished to not interact with you..."

"By whom!?" Meledon yelled.

"By the Tribunal themselves," Ninjor confessed.

"And does the Oracle know of this!?" Meledon continued in his line of questioning.

"Yes," Ninjor replied. "We are all following the desires of the Tribunal."

"Lead me to them. _Now_ ," Meledon ordered.

After a brisk and silent walk, Saba and Meledon Ranger found themselves staring at two doors. Ninjor opened one that led to darkness.

"No. What's in the other one?" Meledon Ranger demanded.

"It's just a test. It's nothing," Ninjor replied. "Now come this way."

"You have _no_ right to tell me what to do." Meledon Ranger said, pointing a finger at Ninjor. He walked over and opened the door himself.

"But... how!?" Ninjor gasped. "I'm still holding the key...?"

"I'm the Meledon Ranger," He told Ninjor. "Now you know who you're messing with. Don't underestimate my power."

Looking into the scene the door presented, Meledon Ranger felt broken. The people who he was slowly beginning to remember were standing around him at his house on Eltar: Raine, Laguna, and Ellone. Alongside them were Zrin, Trinity, Tria, and Saba. They were all laughing as Orion, Burai, and Dulcea entered the room with what appeared to be canvas bags. From out of the bag they began to put food onto the table, readying themselves for a dinner.

"I hate everything about this past hour." Meledon Ranger said as he slashed at the door with his red tiger saber. As it turned to dust, he looked to Ninjor and sneered behind his visor. "Take me to the Tribunal of Magic."

. . .

 _ **The Universal Magic Grid**_

The Black Mage stood at the top of the stairway up to the platform where he, the Red Mage (Baelfire), and the White Mage (Mary) stood. He groaned and shook his head as he saw Meledon Ranger appear from the mystical pool which served as a doorway from the universe into the Magic Grid."

"Here we go..." The Black Mage grumbled as Meledon caused his saber to appear once again in his hand.

"First off, it is an honor to-" Baelfire began.

"Argh!" Meledon screamed as he leapt forward, swinging his saber to strike at the Tribunal.

As he did, Mary lifted up a hand. White Magic erupted from said hand, shooting out and enveloping Meledon Ranger. The Black Mage then shot Black Magic at Meledon. The two Magics mixed and demorphed him to Zordon.

As Zordon was lowered to the ground, Baelfire raised a hand. "I embody Red Magic. It would be useless for you to try and use your Nathadian Magic here."

"How dare you!?" Zordon spat as Ninjor walked up behind him with Saba in tow. "I have been in that infernal desert for nine thousand years!"

Mary lowered her head. "It was necessary..."

"Why!?" Saba demanded.

Baelfire waved a hand and showed an image of Dulcea above his head. She was floating in what seemed to be an ocean of neverending whiteness. Lowering his arms, Baelfire looked to Zordon.

"For my daughter, Dulcea," Baelfire explained.

"I saw her lose her Life. She sacrificed herself to end Ivan Ooze," Zordon stated, doubting the image he was seeing.

"I... I couldn't allow that to happen," Baelfire stated. "My daughter means too much to me. I channeled all of the Magic I could and saved her Spirit. I sent it to the Nothingness, the vast expanse which houses the multiverse. Her Spirit resides in a bubble in the Nothingness. But... there was a catch. She was attached to the universe still. Because of that attachment, she was being sucked back into your universe. If that happened, she would be given a choice between going to the Afterlife or..."

"Or not, eventually to become a Demon," Will stated.

"What does any of this have to do with me!?" Zordon demanded, confused about whether he should feel happy that Dulcea was alive or angry that no one was answering him.

"We watched as Rita Repulsa threw you into a Time Warp," Mary replied. "We redirected yours and Saba's trajectories to land in that desert wasteland. It was stable enough for you, and helped create a field of energy strong enough outside of your universe to repel Dulcea."

"Wait... so you lot left me in that Time Warp to keep Dulcea alive?" Zordon asked.

"Yes, Zordon. Yes, we did. As long as you and Saba are in the Time Warp, your connection to your universe will continue to repel Dulcea," Baelfire stated.

"But I'm from the Nathadian Universe," Zordon said, anger leaving as he was left in confusion over the physics of the situation.

"And Dulcea is born of Nathadian origin. I knew your father, Laguna. He was a good man, Zordon," Baelfire said.

"Your nature as a Nathadian saturated with energy from your current universe, M54331Z, is the same as Dulcea's. No one else can serve the position which you serve," Mary said.

"We are still trying to figure out a way to save my daughter," Baelfire said. "We didn't know it would take this long."

Saba shook his head. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"We didn't want to give you two a false sense of hope," Mary answered.

Zordon scoffed. "Your selfishness is amazing. Let me make my own decisions! I don't care how powerful you think you are! You are not gods! You have no right to toy with my life!"

"So you're willing to have your life back so that Dulcea loses hers!?" Will accused.

Zordon laughed once again. "That's the thing... You didn't give me the choice. If I _had_ been given the choice, you know what my answer would've been? Of course I'll stay in the Time Warp. If it's to save her, of course. Now I know that someday I _will_ get out. But you lot didn't give me the choice."

"What if you had said no, though?" Baelfire asked.

"Then that murder would be on me! It still does not give you the right to imprison me!" Zordon yelled. He turned and looked at Ninjor before he looked to the Tribunal. "What you did was evil."

"It was for love..." Baelfire insisted.

"The ends do not justify the means. If you letting me make my own decisions had caused Dulcea to perish, than that's what would've happened," Zordon said. "You should have given me the choice."

"I... I don't agree," Saba said. "This is someone's Life on the line..."

"Should they have continued lying then!?" Zordon protested.

"No... they should have told us. But if we did not comply, then should they have tried to figure out a way to detain us. We would have become the selfish villains at that point, correct? Sacrificing someone else's Life for our own desires?" Saba posed to Zordon.

Feeling defeated, Zordon shook his head. "I do not know, Saba. I... I do not know. Life is not black and white..."

The Red Mage, who stood in between the Black and White Mages, nodded. "The middle ground in decision making is where wisdom lies. But, regardless of what ifs and what could have beens... thank you for deciding to save my daughter."

"It is not for you, but for her," Zordon replied. "But on the subject of loved ones, what of my wife and son?"

Baelfire nodded. "Trinity was rescued, we learned a few centuries after the fact, by The Guardian and those in the Hall of Legends."

"Who exactly are those in the Hall?" Saba asked. "We met at one point an alternate Zordon. We also saw Tria and Orion. It is rather confusing."

"In the Hall of Legends reside people from the first version of your universe. A version called Timeline A. The version The Guardian told you of when you first met him in the Hall of Legends after the Final Siege," Mary replied.

"The one destroyed by Ultimecia?" Zordon asked, attempting to clarify. "But Guardian said he was the only survivor."

"He lied to you to not concern you with the details. We know not his reasons, but he says everything he does is to protect the sanctity of the future," Baelfire replied. "In the Hall are Burai, Orion, Zordon, The Guardian, and a man named Auron."

Ninjor's shoulders stiffened. _What!? Auron!? I... I had no idea that's what happened to him. He just vanished one day. He's still alive..._

"All of those people come from Timeline A. From Timeline B, _your_ Timeline, are Tria, Trinity, and Zrin," Mary told Zordon and Saba.

"Why did they keep that from me?" Zordon said, feeling the pieces fall into place. He was beginning to feel at ease with what was happening and what _had_ been happening to him. Just knowing there was a way out of his Time Warp and that his wife was out there was beginning to open his perspective up to a hopeful and happy future for himself.

"Guardian told us that it was to ensure you would do things which would help the future happen which would be enough to save the multiverse. No other explanations were given," Mary replied.

"Well, he _did_ say that Zordon's sadness was going to be key," Will added.

Baelfire sighed. "Yes, but wording it that way is... _harsh_."

Will threw his arms up in the air. "Aw, whatever. He said he wanted the truth and I gave it to him."

"Is Prime this threat to the multiverse?" Zordon asked.

"One of them, but we don't know how much of a threat he is. There are others, who may actually be more powerful. They are The Supreme and the Traveler," Baelfire replied. "You are on a course that will apparently cause the multiverse to stand a chance against these beings."

Zordon shook his head in disbelief. "So many people, abusing their power! None of you are gods! Stop playing with my life! Speak to me! Ask me what _I_ want!"

"Would you not have done the same thing? Isn't this strategy for the greater good?" Saba asked.

Zordon sighed. "I'd like to think not. I guess I don't know... But I do know how I feel about it now. I do not like being manipulated. I am intelligent. Let me use my faculties to have a say in the matter. If I fail, then it's on me. No one else."

"But..." Saba interjected. "... If you fail, and the stakes are _this_ large... is it really solely on your shoulders?"

Remembering what Daggeron had told him about how others felt of him channeling the entirety of the Morphing Grid into his Command Center, Zordon sighed. "Perhaps because I'm personally involved, my view is skewed. Perhaps I'm a hypocrite. I... I will need time, though, to see how I really feel about the matter."

Turning to the Tribunal, Saba asked: "Has Prime attacked the Hall of Legends?"

"It would appear so. We have had no contact with them for a while. We are worried," Baelfire said.

"We know, though, that Prime has yet to win. If he had won, he would have already ruined the universe. The only people standing in his way right now are those in the Hall of Legends," Mary said.

"Them and me," Zordon said. "I have gained an understanding of Time Magic recently. If we channel enough of my energy and yours, I believe you could send me to the Hall of Legends. I can try and turn the tides there."

"But if you go, then Dulcea will continue her descent back to the universe," Baelfire countered. "You being here has already started that. She is being drawn back with greater and greater pull."

Zordon nodded. "Then I'll have to work fast."

"But my daughter!" Baelfire argued.

"You have already sacrificed _my_ Life in order to try and save her. Are you going to potentially sacrifice the multiverse as well!?" Zordon yelled.

Baelfire lowered his head. With a flick of his wrists, Zordon was morphed back to Meledon Ranger. "Ni... Jor? Could you escort Saba back to the Time Warp desert? His presence will help slow Dulcea's bubble down. Zordon... may the Power protect you."

All three members of the Tribunal of Magic pointed their arms at Zordon. Time Magic hovered around the first Red Ranger, lifting him up off his feet. As that happened, Meledon Ranger channeled his own powers into the Time Magic, closing his eyes and focusing on the coordinates he gave Daggeron earlier. In his mind he could suddenly see the chaos that was the Nothingness. He could see the Hall of Legends floating outside, yet connected to, Universe M54331Z. Inexplicably at first, he could see Will, Baelfire, and Mary floating outside of it, blasting the membrane surrounding the bubble which was the dimension of the Hall of Legends with massive amounts of Time Magic. His Meledon powers revealed to him they were the Tribunal's Temporal Twins from Timeline A.

As the vision ended, Meledon saw a Time Vortex open before him. Breathing in deeply, he pointed himself toward it. Suddenly, he felt it draw him in. Flashes of fractaled light poured over him as he dived through the fabric of space and Time. He was feeling rather disoriented at trying to comprehend what he was seeing before he suddenly felt himself begin to slow down. Everything began to come to focus. He could feel himself begin to be anchored once again.

. . .

 _ **The Hall of Legends**_

Future: Omega Ranger watched as the Time Vortex was able to grant him access to Zordon as the Meledon Ranger travel to the Hall of Legends. The familiar crystal walls came into focus as Meledon Ranger landed in the middle of the room. As he landed, Omega noted how there were upturned tables and scorch marks everywhere.

Meledon spun around as he heard something behind him. He watched as the red armored Zocato Ranger stumbled into the room.

"Huh? Zordon?" Zocato Orion asked. "I swear I just saw you in that other room. Ugh... Prime must have hit me harder than I thought. We're still trying to track him. I'm sorry I haven't found him yet."

Meledon Ranger straightened as he saw yet another Meledon Ranger walk into the room. That one had the number thirty five on his chest instead of the thirty he himself sported. He wore thirty on his chest to commemorate the thirty members of the former United Alliance under the reign of the Morphing Masters. The other Meledon Ranger had a thirty five to remember the thirty five planets that were a part of the Karovan System from Timeline A.

"How did you get here!?" Meledon-A demanded.

Meledon Ranger folded his arms across his chest. "The Tribunal of Magic helped me get here. Now's not a time for questions: we have to find Prime _now_. Time is of the essence."

September appeared in the room. After deducing quickly what happened, he nodded. "Yes. Dulcea does not have very long if you are here."

Zocato Ranger Orion shrugged. "Okay... you guys are gonna have to explain things later."

"This way, then!" Meledon-A ordered. The four heroes rushed out of the room and ran down a hallway until they found themselves in the portal room foyer. In the center of the foyer was Nathadian Ranger Zrin, The Guardian, and the Ultra Green Ranger. Ultra Green was wielding the Wild Sword while Nathadian Ranger shot blasts of Nathadian Magic at Prime. The Guardian shot blasts of Trizyrium Energy and Time Magic at the Rogue Watcher as he floated about the room.

"Zocato power!" Zocator Ranger yelled, rushing headfirst into the fray.

Meledon-A looked to Meledon Ranger. "Shall we?"

"After you." He said as they both summoned forth their red tiger sabers.

Watching them run ahead, September stepped back. He began to breathe in and out deliberately. He was amassing enough energy to be able to deal a crushing blow to Prime to end him once and for all.

Meanwhile, Tria and Trinity sat behind a computer, attempting to maintain the membrane around the Hall of Legends which the evil Tribunal of Magic was attempting to destroy. They had been shown by The Guardian what to do, but the three powerful Magic users were giving them a run for their money.

"I'm needin' help on the right quadrant!" Tria shouted.

"Coming in, sis!" Trinity said, diverting more energy to the troubled quadrant.

"We can't keep this up!" Tria screamed. "If we keep divertin' energy, they'll eventually hit a weak spot and blow a hole in the Hall. Then the pressure will begin to equalize and..."

"Don't think like that!" Trinity screamed. "Just... _focus_! And think positively!"

Tria breathed out and in deliberately. "Okay... okay."

"Uh-oh..." Trinity let out accidentally.

Tria instantly panicked. "What!? What happened to positivity!?"

Trinity's shoulders slumped as she hit her forehead on her control panel. "I diverted to much power to the higher quadrant. They blasted the sensors. It's only a matter of time before they destroy the Hall of Legends. It's over..."

"Not unless we can defeat Prime." Tria proclaimed as she stood up from her chair. "We're not going down without a fight!"

All the while, the team of rangers were running around Prime, trying to take him down. They were doing all they could to think of strategies to get an edge on the masterful fighter.

"He's blocking everything we throw at him!" Meledon-A cried out as Prime laughed while seemingly absorbing a Nathadian Blast.

"How is he that powerful!?" Meledon Ranger demanded before being punched in the gut. As he doubled over, Prime lifted a leg up in the air and sent it flying down on Meledon's back.

"Tsa!" Ultra Green shouted as his body was surrounded by Green Morphing Energy, Green Emotional Energy, and the Dragon Spirit his Power Coin held which was amplified by the Wild Sword. He slammed down onto Prime like a comet, his fist landing on Prime's face and sending him staggering back.

"That's it!" Zocato Ranger declared as Prime quickly readjusted himself and caught a Trizyrium Blast in his left hand from The Guardian. "Burai's attack just now had a different mix of attacks! We need to hit him with simultaneous blasts. He can't block them all at once!"

Throwing the Trizyrium Energy at Zocato, sending him off his feet, Prime laughed. "Ha. Fine, I'm up for a challenge. Give me all you've got!"

Meledon Ranger lifted himself up and sneered. "Okay, Orion! I need you to be a compliment! Nathadian Blast!"

"Zocato power!" The red armored ranger yelled.

Meledon-A nodded, catching his drift. "Meledon Conversion: White Battery! Come on, Zrin!"

"Right, Dad," Nathadian Ranger answered. "Meledon Conversion: Black Battery!"

"Ta-tsa!" Ultra Green yelled, charging himself with as much of his own ranger powers as he could, like he had done before. He zoomed ahead, caught up in the charge.

"Hi-yah!" Guardian screamed, sending volts of Time Magic forward to hit Prime.

In the epicenter of the massive attack stood Prime. A smile on his face, he began to vibrate quickly due to his tapping into the Speed Force. The rangers watched in horror as he moved with lightning speed and precision, seemingly activating and deactivating each attack individually.

"Fight fire with fire! Meledon Conversion: Speed Force!" Meledon-A shouted.

"Meledon Conversion: Speed Force!" Nathadian Ranger mimiced.

"Amaradon Conversion: Speed Force!" Added Zocato Ranger.

In a blur of speed and electricity, the four Speedsters began to fight each other. Ultra Green Ranger, Guardian, and Meledon Ranger took a step back to not get involved in the super speedy flight.

"Why don't you jump in!?" Ultra Green demanded to Meledon Ranger. He was yet in the heat of the battle in his mind, and figured he'd get an answer as to why the Timeline B version of Zordon was in the Hall eventually.

Meledon Ranger folded his arms across his chest. "I... I feel like they are going about it the wrong way..."

Guardian nodded. "It must be your connection to the Order of Meledon. Open up to it. Embrace it, Zordon. It could be the key to our survival."

Meledon sighed. As much as he was angry with Guardian, he could not help but agree with him. Although it irritated him to follow through with what Guardian suggested, Meledon did a Scan on the fight. As he did, one thing came to mind: Negative Speed Force.

As the information was downloaded into his mind, he frowned. "I'm going to have to be very careful about this... Meledon Conversion: _Negative_ Speed Force!"

The power of a Speedster descended upon Meledon Ranger as if it were a mantle. Speeding up his reflexes and hand-eye coordination, Meledon Ranger began to see the epic battle before him at normal speed. He could see Prime somehow travelling faster than the three rangers, still able to outmaneuver them and beat them down.

 _I need to focus..._ Meledon Ranger thought. _One wrong move could be fatal._

Zooming ahead with everything he had, Meledon: Negative Speed dived into the fight. As he did, Prime tossed Nathadian: Speed at him. Meledon: Negative Speed dodged and weaved to get out of Nathadian Ranger's trajectory. He knew if he touched him, it would be over.

"Ahhhh!" Meledon: Negative Speed screamed as his muscles ached with every step. He was pushing his body to the limit, causing each muscle to burn.

Prime sneered. "Fine! Come at me!"

Meledon: Speed watched as his Temporal Twin lunged forward. "Fool! What kind of form is that!? He'll block you!"

Meledon: Negative Speed smirked behind his visor. "I hope..."

"Huh?" Prime thought out loud, hearing Meledon: Negative Speed's comment. On instinct, though, he threw his arms out before him and grabbed the Power Ranger in a lock to swing him around, with the intention of tossing him.

"Bingo," Meledon: Negative Speed said as the power of the Negative Speed Force began to creep from him to the Speed Force enhanced Prime.

"No!" Prime shouted, realizing how he had yet again been outhought by the Zordon from Timeline B. He did a quick calculation in his mind and found that the Negative Speed Force was a "cancer" to the Speed Force. Anyone fully tapped to the Negative Speed Force could destroy someone using the Speed Force with just a simple touch.

Disconnecting from the Speed Force, Prime fell to a knee. As he did, he roared in anger and sent a shockwave of Time Magic out from himself, blasting the rangers away from him. He was greatly weakened, but hadn't yet given up.

Prime stood tall and raised his arms up high, laughing. "You can't defeat me! I'm to be your _god_! I-"

"Yah!" Trinity screamed, flying in with her Ethereal wings. She flew straight at his gut, tackling him to the ground.

"Watsaw!" Tria yelled, flipping forward through the air. She landed quickly on Prime and placed a Trizyrium Crystal in his hand. "Now!"

In the blink of an eye, September sped forward and placed a hand on Prime's head. "Oh, my dear brother. I hope you can find change where you are going."

"No! No! No!" Prime screamed as he was enveloped with Time Magic. Then, with a spark, he was gone.

"What did you do with him!?" Meledon-A gasped.

"I sent him somewhere far from here. Somewhere he could think," September said. "I hope he can change..."

"Not to break up the victory, but we have one more problem outside in the Nothingness..." Trinity said as she retracted her wings.

Demorphing, Zordon stood and stared at her. Tears welled up in his eyes. "Tri... Trinity?"

Shocked, Trinity spun around and stared at Zordon. "Zordon!? Zordon!"

Trinity rushed forward, falling into Zordon's arms as they embraced in a long overdue hug. They kissed each other, their lips entwined for what seemed an eternity.

"I... I never thought I'd see you again." Zordon said, wiping tears from his face.

Grinning from ear to ear, Trinity placed her forehead on Zordon's shoulder. "I've missed you so very much..."

"Let them reunite," Guardian ordered. "We have business to attend to."

. . .

 _ **The Nothingness**_

Will-A frowned. "So, we weakened their defenses... how much longer?"

"As long as it takes!" Baelfire-A snapped. "We need to hear from Prime before we destroy this place."

Mary-A sighed. "I... I just wish it didn't have to be this way. The people in the Hall are good."

"Yes, but only Prime has the power to give us Dulcea back," Baelfire-A replied. "Our Twins will not let us have her. And it's not fair. They are _our_ clones. They don't deserve Dulcea. She doesn't belong to _them_."

"So this is what it has been about?" Guardian said as he made his presence known. "You are trying to steal Dulcea from her parents!"

"I am her _real_ parent!" Baelfire-A snapped.

At that point, Tria stepped forward. "No! Ugh! What is with everyone and stealing other people's children!? Stop it! Your Dulcea passed away in Timeline A during the Final Siege against Master Vile. She is gone. The Dulcea from _my_ Timeline is not the same as yours!"

"It's not fair!" Baelfire-A protested. "I don't care what you say. She is mine. I never had a chance to be with my daughter! I sacrificed everything to save her from Octomus. I... I can't lose her now. I'm too close to having my life back!"

September sighed as he, Ultra Green Ranger, Nathadian Ranger, and Zocato Ranger stepped forward as well. "Baelfire... I'm sorry, but we cannot allow you to get away with what you are doing."

Will sneered. "You are all hypocrites! Look what you did with Zrin!"

Nathadian Ranger dropped his head. From the best of what Future: Omega Ranger could guess, it seemed as if sometime since the last time he saw him and that moment, Trinity and the rest of the Hall of Legends had confessed the truth to Zrin about who his real father was. That had been especially obvious when Zrin had appeared to Zordon in his Time Warp earlier. What left Omega curious was the fact that Zrin had still called Zordon-A "Dad" during the recent battle against Prime.

Finally deciding to join the group, Meledon-A nodded. "I have things for which I need to atone. In the end, though? I still fight for what's right. I fight to save the universe. All of them. If you bring down the Hall of Legends just to see your daughter again, you are nothing but a villain. If the Hall of Legends falls, the last resistance against Prime, Supreme, Traveler, and anyone else who threatens the multiverse will fall. Now is the time for you to decide."

Mary-A looked to Baelfire-A. "I can't make this decision. It would be selfish for me to do so. She is your daughter. What do you want me to do?"

Will-A snickered. "C'mon, mate. Don't let these fools stop you when you're so close. They're only offering us this chance to decide because we have them cornered. Don't let 'em trick you!"

Baelfire-A looked down and closed his eyes. "Fire!"

"Haste!" Guardian declared, according to what they had planned prior to meeting with the villainous version of the Tribunal of Magic. He hit the three rangers with the magic to accelerate their speeds, since their ability to tap the Speed Force had been depleted.

Meledon-A pursed his lips behind his visor. "I was afraid you'd say that. Meledon Conversion: Amaradon Ranger! Zocato power!"

Nathadian Ranger took up a fighting stance.  
"Meledon Conversion: Amaradon Ranger! Zocato power!"

Sneering, Zocato Ranger flexed all of his muscles under his red suit of armor as he felt power surge through him. "Zocato power!"

"Slow!" Guardian shouted, hitting the Tribunal as fast as he could. The three began moving slowly, unsure how to get out of both the slow spell and the Zocato power approaching them. Before they could react either way, they were hit.

The Zocato power, created as a virus back in the Nathadian Universe to eat away at Magic, hit the evil trio and began eating away at their Magic. As they floated against the pure black backdrop of the Nothingness, nothing but a halo of light around them to guide their way, they began to yell in anger.

"No! You can't do this!" Will-A screamed. As he did, he pulled out a bottle from his pocket and drank it.

"A Hero Drink!" Mary-A gasped. "Where did you get that!?"

"I made it. Just in case..." Will-A said. And before anyone could flinch, he vanished.

September's eyes glowed with Time Magic. He suddenly vanished in a flash of purple. As he did, Guardian floated forward and wrapped tendrils of Time Magic around Baelfire-A and Mary-A. "I'm sending you two somewhere you won't be able to cause anymore trouble. Back to the Magic Grid of Timeline A."

"No! No!" Baelfire-A screamed.

Tria pursed her lips. "We gave you guys a chance. We can't risk having people like you running about."

A Time Vortex opened. Despite their pleas of sorrow, Guardian threw the two into the Time Vortex September had programmed to specifically recreate the tunnel Prime had created to get the trio out of the remnants of Timeline A in the first place.

September at that point reappeared. "Due to Guardian having the crystal I programmed with access to Timeline A's Magic Grid, I was unable to send Will there with the others. The best I could do when I cut off his energy trajectory was send him to the same place I sent Prime."

"Where was that, exactly?" Ultra Green Ranger asked.

September looked to him and the other inhabitants of the Hall of Legends. "A secluded place here in the Nothingness. A small bubble universe where Prime could yet exist, but not hurt anyone. It seems to have a name, though I could not calculate who named it. It's a place called the Void."

. . .

 _ **The Hall of Legends**_

Zordon held onto Trinity tightly. "I never want to let you go."

"Please don't," Trinity said into Zordon's chest. "I'm afraid if you do, something will tear us apart again."

"Hey, guys." Zrin said, walking in while leading the rest of the Hall inhabitants behind him. "I guess there's a lot we need to go over, huh?"

"You need to return to the desert immediately," Guardian said. "Dulcea's dangerously close to returning to your universe."

Zordon breathed in deeply. He then let go of Trinity and walked up to Guardian slowly. He instamorphed into Meledon Ranger and punched Guardian across the face of his helmet as hard as he could, sending Guardian falling to the ground.

Demorphing, Zordon nodded. "I've waited a long time to do that. Shame it doesn't change anything."

Zordon-A stepped forward. "I suppose it's my turn."

"Yes." Zordon said, swinging his arm back to hit Zordon-A. As his fist flew down, though, it was caught by Zrin's palm.

"I'm sorry. I know he has hurt you. I know he stole you from me. In the end, though... he still raised me. I see him as my father, and I love him. Please don't hurt him." Zrin implored.

Zordon was hurt, and it showed. "I... I... okay, fine. I... I just hope you can come to call me your father someday."

Zrin nodded. "I do, too. It's only fair to you. Mom?"

Trinity walked forward and put her arm around Zordon's. "Zrin? Your father needs to return to the Time Warp to ensure Dulcea can be safe. I'm going to go with him there, just until the Tribunal can find a new body to put her Spirit into."

"I knew not that was your plan..." September said. He sighed. "I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but you cannot go there. Not to live, anyway."

"Why not!?" Tria demanded. "Come on! Let them have their happy ending! Let them be together!"

"If they choose to live together in the Time Warp, then Trinity's presence will alter the field staving Dulcea's Spirit from returning to her universe. The added energy will allow Dulcea to return and either cross over or become a Demon," September stated.

Zordon thought for a moment. "Well, I know Doc and Miha were able to stay in Spirit form for almost two thousand years without becoming Demons. Perhaps I can speak with Doc to see if he can help with that?"

"But Marvelous, Luka, and Joe became Demons in that same timeframe. And Doc was doing all he could to save them. Are you sure you want to take that risk?" September asked. "In the end, it's your Life and your choice. I am no one to say what you can or cannot do."

Zordon sighed. "Okay... um... what is this plan then? How do they plan on eventually saving Dulcea?"

"They are tryin' to pinpoint a Temporal Twin of Dulcea's who they can not only send her Spirit to, but also one who is on the brink of passin' away. Once the Temporal Twin loses her Life, they would place our Dulcea into the body, then we would have her teleported to the Tribunal," Tria replied.

"How is that coming along?" Zordon asked.

Being helped up by Orion and Burai, Guardian looked to Zordon. "Not well. They have yet to find a Temporal Twin for Dulcea. They never stop checking, though."

Zordon looked to Trinity. "Can we wait? Wait until Dulcea is secure?"

Trinity nodded. "Of course, my dear. You know what? Why don't I speed up the process?"

"What do you mean?" Zordon-A asked, concerned.

"I mean that I can go through the multiverse myself. I will go around and try to find a candidate for Dulcea. The more people there are to look, the better," Trinity said.

"But we need you here," Zrin said. " _I_ need you here..."

"The past while has been great to be with you, my son," Trinity said. She then looked to Tria. "And with my sister. But... you guys kept me here against my will for a long time. I've been helping you guys track down the movement patterns of The Supreme and the Traveler and I allowed it because you all said it was for the best of the multiverse. Well... It's time for me to do what _I_ want for once."

"Let her go," Zordon-A said sternly. "We've done enough to Zordon's family... Please, no more."

Guardian sighed. "We'll need to design some sort of ranger suit for you, though. Something to protect you from other Timelines."

Tria smiled as she pulled something out of her pocket. "Like this?"

Trinity's eyes grew wide. "My amulet!?"

Putting it around her neck, Tria looked to Zordon. "I hope you don't mind. I grabbed it from your Command Center just now after we finished with the evil Tribunal. I figured now that you were together she'd want it."

"Can you enforce my Ninja Amulet with Trizyrium Energy to protect me?" Trinity asked, looking down at the morphing totem.

"Yes. We'll need to add some Nathadian Magic to ensure the Time Magic runs well, but your Ninja Spirit should be enough to keep it running," September said.

Trinity turned and looked at Zordon. "It's only a matter of time now. I'll find a host body for Dulcea. Then we'll be able to get you out of the Time Warp and we'll all be together again."

Zordon fought back tears. Something inside him told him it wouldn't be that simple. He was hoping it wasn't an impression from the Order of Meledon. "Soon, darling. Soon."

. . .

 _ **3050 AD - Time Force Headquarters Timeline ATF**_

Future: Omega Ranger watched as the face of Rip Hunter appeared on the screen, as if he were recording himself. He had dark circles under his eyes and he looked as if he hadn't kept his beard trimmed in quite a number of days. He looked tired.

"Okay, so that was the first file I was asked by the powers that be to catalogue. Pretty intense stuff, huh? Well, Zordon from Timeline B returned to his Time Warp after he, his Twin, and Zrin infused Nathadian Magic into Trinity's Amulet. Trinity then went on her way around the multiverse after Guardian put Time Magic stuff in the amulet as well.

"One thing I have to say is that I had to do a lot of homework on the files from the Power Ranger Archives to be able to understand some of the backstory on things. I skipped around a bit, so I think I may have missed some stuff, but I got the jist of things. It's a pretty sad story so far, especially with how Zordon's Life ends to stop Dark Specter. Really, really sad.

"Something I'm confused about, though, is the Power Ranger Archives themselves. I can see in my system that they are 'in progress' and that someone is working like a mad dog to get these files sorted. I- I don't know. I asked all of the other Linear Men and none of them seem to be working on any of these files. I asked my superiors and they told me to butt out. Well, heh... That's just making me more curious! Especially with what's happening in Timeline BTF and Anubis Cruger being allowed into our Timeline... I dunno. It just seems like a lot is going on that they aren't telling us. I'm a flipping Linear Man, ya' know!? I should be informed!"

Composing himself after venting, Rip rubbed his beard and continued. "Anyway, I did some extra digging because I was curious about some things the Power Ranger Archives and these Time Force Cameras were unable to tell me. I was able to use my Time Tech to get some snippets of some things that were missed that I personally find to be of importance. I'm going to play that now. Just a reminder that since it isn't official business, I didn't have much time to stay in each period before my energy ran dry and I had to return home."

. . .

 _ **Unknown Universe**_

The Pink Ninja Storm Ranger landed on the dirt from her Time Vortex. Invisible to her and to the side stood Rip Hunter, watching the event. Future: Omega Ranger was seeing everything transpire through the cameras attached to Rip's visor. He suspected whatever tech Rip was using was similar to the ones Watchers and Freelancers used to be in the universe they were observing, while still not being _in_ it, interfering with the past.

"Okay... Here I am. Ugh. No signs of life here on this Earth, either. Hmm... high levels of radioactivity in the air, though, according to these sensors," Ninja Pink said to herself. "And... yup. That's a city out in the distance. Geez, I guess this planet ended in some sort of nuclear holocaust. Sad. Whatever signature matching traces of Dulcea's DNA that sent me here is long gone."

"What are you doing here?" A voice asked.

Her heart leaping into her throat, Ninja Pink spun around to see the Watcher, August, staring at her. She sneered behind her helmet as she saw him.

"Aw, come on! This is only my fourth universe! I thought I'd have a lot longer before I ran into one of you bozos." Ninja Pink said as she got into a fighting stance.

August cocked his head to the side. "Are you from MZ54331? It seems like it."

"Hee-yah!" She cried out, jump kicking at the Watcher.

August blocked the kick. In a series of impressive counters, Ninja Pink found herself pinned to the dirt with August's knee digging into her spine. Her helmet was being pushed into the ground as August used his free hand to look at his pocket device.

"This is August. I found a dimension hopper with the ability to Time travel."

Captain Windmark's voice answered. "Bring the hopper to the prison. Take her tech and we'll question her."

Nodding, August lifted her up and punched her in the neck, knocking her out. He caught her falling body in his arms and gently carried her into a Time Door.

. . .

 _ **The Void**_

"Blinking horrible place this is, eh?" Will-A commented to Prime.

Prime sneered. "Shush! I'm trying to concentrate!"

Will-A barked out a laugh. "You've been trying to get your powers working since we got here! Give it up, man! It's over! We're stuck here!"

"Can't you use _any_ of your Magic!?" Prime shouted loudly in anger.

"Sorry. No can do," Will-A said. "I got hit with a mighty dose of Zocato. It's gonna be in me for quite some time, mate."

"Ugh!" Prime roared, picking up a nearby rock and chucking it.

"So, I see Auron has sent more people to taunt me. It has been quite some time, but I am grateful for the break in monotony at least," A deep, calm and collected voice said. It rang through the scenery, echoing ominously.

"Who is there!?" Prime demanded. He was shocked to know there were others in the place he knew not was named the Void.

Suddenly, Cronos stepped through some vegetation, making himself known. "You have arrived here. I will now find a way out through you. Take me out of here or prepare to feel my wrath!"

Prime smirked. "Cute. Sorry, but we're trapped here, too."

Cronos looked at Prime, eyeing him. "A while back one appeared here claiming he was trapped here as well. He, too, was bald. You look very similar. You _smell_ similar. You must be in league with him and Auron. You are in league with he who took Lilith from me!"

Will jumped up from the rock upon which he sat. "Whoa, there! You got it all wrong!"

Prime laughed as he continued to look at Cronos. "You must have met September, then. That's how he knew about this place. Sly dog. He sent us here saying it was to change, but I bet he wanted us to be destroyed by you, seeing as we were powerless. Oh, will he pay for his treachery.

"As for Auron? I know who he is. He is a man who helped send us here. We are his enemies." Prime said, pointing to both himself and Will-A.

Cronos folded his arms across his chest. "Prove this to me!"

"Well, you speak of Lilith? I may not have my powers anymore, but I have my memories. If they serve me correctly, she was taken from you by... Braska, Jecht, and Auron?" Prime asked.

"Yes! I was unable to finish Auron before being banished here!" Cronos screamed.

"I notice you have clocks around you. Do you have... Time powers?" Prime asked.

Cronos nodded. "I am the Demon of Time. I was given great power by my beloved Lilith."

Prime looked to Will-A. They were both smiling widely. "Well, Cronos. Guess what? I think we may be able to help each other out..."

. . .

 _ **1900 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Zordon watched from his tube as his new assistant, Alpha 5, went through his movements to test whether he was operating efficiently. King Lexian had taken Alpha 4 during the events which had transpired after Prime's initial attack and transferred all of his memories into the new body which was Alpha 5. The transfer had been successful, but unfortunately some of his master circuits had been destroyed between the event at the Tengen Gate as well as Prime's attack. Although he was the same Alpha, his efficiency was going to be lacking. Kamen told Zordon over communications before Alpha 5 arrived that Zordon would need to babysit the new Alpha a little more than before, and that Alpha would be unable to come up with some of the out of the box thinking he had been known to have during Zordon's time in his temporal prison. In the end, though, it was still the same Alpha Zordon had come to know and even love.

"Oh, boy..." Saba said as he watched Alpha spinning in circles. "Please tell me that's an exercise..."

Zordon chuckled. "Nope. He got so confused about where a certain button was that he began spinning in stress. This should be quite entertaining from here on out."

"Seeing you so chipper like this _baffles_ me, Zordon," Saba commented. "You just found out we could leave whenever we want, and that you could have your whole family again. Why are you so happy?"

Still smiling, Zordon looked down to Saba. "Because I know it's my choice. I now _choose_ to stay in the Time Warp for the sake of my old friend. And I know my wife is out there, working as hard as she can to find a way to end this. I must be optimistic. I will not spend the rest of my days in this Time Warp. Neither shall you, Saba. One day we both will be free. We may be here now, but our lives are not over. We will beat this, Saba. Until then, we must take advantage of the time we have and protect this small part of the multiverse with which we've been entrusted. September says we are key to protecting the multiverse. We have many, many people depending on us."

"You are a good man," Saba said. He then looked at the schematics drawn out on the sand before Zordon. "So what is this for again?"

"In case something else ever happens to the Hall of Legends, and in case we are ever cut off from the Tribunal of Magic, I am having Alpha use these schematics to create a doorway to the Hall of Legends. But there will be a catch to using the doorway: A person will need to have equal parts courage, wisdom, and heart to be allowed through. It is an algorithm I came up with that I reinforced with Nathadian Magic. I don't care who the person thinks they are, they aren't getting through unless they have those attributes in balance," Zordon told Saba.

"So... a calm Triforian?" Saba asked.

"Exactly," Zordon said. "I am creating the door specifically for Trinity. If she is ever in danger and has been cut off from the Hall, she can come to this universe and be let in through here."

"And this triangle thing? The one you are putting in the desert outside of the Command Center?" Saba asked.

"It is meant to help realign any Triforian who is not at one with himself," Zordon replied. "If Trinity appears and is discombobulated from a fight, with her selves not in equality, she can step onto that triangular plaque and rejoin herselves. Then she will be able to enter the door."

"What if there is another emergency?" Saba said. "What if we need to send someone to the Hall?"

Zordon pointed at another spot on the sand. "There. I am creating three totems which can mimic the attributes of a Triforian. I am going to hide them using Trizyrium Crystal Tech from The Guardian."

"Hide them where?" Saba asked, confused.

Zordon smiled, turning to another plot of sand. "Well, you know I have been using some of my contacts in Angel Grove, right?"

"Of course. That's how we are setting up that electric company through which we will no longer have to use those infernal generators we keep needing to get the batteries recharged," Saba answered.

"Well, I'm going to be using those contacts to create 'shell companies' by which I can move around the money my other companies have been making. I am then going to use that money to buy this large chunk of land here in Angel Grove." Zordon revealed, pointing to his plans written out in the sand.

"Buy it for what?"

"For my research. All of my artifacts and research will be put in this area. In warehouses and whatnot. One of my contacts, Special Agent Nick Fury from SHIELD, is going to help me get the paperwork drawn up so that a whole section of Angel Grove will just show up on Angel Grove's grid as an 'abandoned warehouse district'," Zordon revealed.

"Won't that make it a prime target for Dark Specter?" Saba inquired.

Zordon got serious. "Yes, so we are going to need to not only rely on the agents from SHIELD to defend it, but also ourselves. We'll need to ensure our Power Morphers are up and running. If Dark Specter strikes, we will need to grab five Humans with ATTITUDE to protect not only this planet, not only this city, but the precious artifacts in the abandoned warehouse district."

"A new team of Power Rangers..." Saba said.

Zordon nodded. "Yes. A team the likes of which the universe has never seen. Dedicated, smart, relentless, and tough. A phenomenal team. A _morphenomenal_ team."


	6. 1935: The Liarian's Tiki

**1935: The Liarian's Tiki**

 _ **1935 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Dark Specter chuckled as he saw the fight unfolding in space. "Excellent. They are falling just as I had planned."

Master Vile nodded. "And how is Lord Zedd holding up?"

"Excellently. His armies are decimating everything in this star system," Dark Specter replied to his counselor.

"My apologies, oh horrible one. I meant to ask about his 'condition'," Master Vile said slowly to let his meaning catch on.

"Ah, _that_... As much as he wants to not admit it, he is at least partially a Demon," Dark Specter answered. "That Demonic part of him is leading him to lose his memories bit by bit. So far, though, that has been nothing but a good thing for me."

"And why is that?" Master Vile asked curiously.

"Because he has forgotten how much I preferred your daughter, Rita Repulsa, over him. She was more devious than he. She knew how to hit her foes where it counted: their Heart. I mean, that's how she brought down the Morphing Masters, correct?" Dark Specter asked as he continued to stare out the window of the Dark Fortress. Due to the fortress being sound proofed, all he could see was silent explosions of the fighters from the planet trying to defend themselves but failing. Dark Specter chuckled silently to himself at that thought, realizing he didn't even know of the name of the random planet he had picked for that day's destruction.

Remembering how Rita had specifically targeted Burai during the final days of Project White Genesis, Master Vile nodded. "Yes, she was truly despicable. But... how does his forgetting the rivalry he had with her help? Wouldn't it be a motivator?"

"No. Not for him. He was so absorbed in the fact that he could never be as devious as her that he began plotting my downfall. He thought I had no idea, but... hehe... I am the Dark Specter. I have eyes and ears everywhere," He said, taking pleasure in his own hubris. "He discovered he had the ability to create pocket universes he called his 'Other World' on each planet he visited. He was trying to learn to use it to cripple me, but one day he just... _stopped_. After some investigation, I found a report by his own hand explaining to me this power he had and how he was going to be perfecting it for the United Alliance of Evil. It seems he even forgot about his plans to topple me."

Master Vile laughed hard at that account. "That is priceless. It definitely sounds like Demon physiology. His Demonic Spirit must be rejecting his host body and causing him to forget things."

"Yes, but Zedd _is_ different. I can't quite put my finger on it. I mean, he's had the same host for almost twelve thousand years. I know no Demon who could pull of such a feat," Dark Specter said. "I doubt even the 'mighty' Beelzebub could do it."

Master Vile nodded, also watching the fight in space. "And are there any other things ongoing before we launch our attack on Earth?"

"Not much. Hydro Hog has hit a stand still against the pesky Aquitar Rangers," Dark Specter informed Master Vile. "Ever since they got their new powers, they-"

Dark Specter stopped mid-sentence as a familiar ship flew into the middle of the airspace. A ship that marked the end of so many of his exploits in space: the Ragnarok. He knew exactly who was onboard: the Liarian named Jodo.

"No!" Dark Specter cried out. Pushing a button on the console next to him, he cried out: "Ecliptor! Head out there immediately! That Liarian is here!"

The voice of Ecliptor rang out from the console. "Yes, oh mighty Dark Specter."

Meanwhile, out in space, Jodo stood at the hangar bay door of his ship as his wife flew the ship. He sighed and shook his head. This is one of the worst battles I've seen in a while. _The United Alliance of Evil must be ramping their efforts in anticipation of something..._

Pulling out the golden key that had been passed down in his family from generation to generation, Jodo walked over to the crate in the hangar bay and opened it. He looked inside at the tiki in the crate. The tiki that the Nathadian pirate, Killian, had encased himself in millions of years ago. The tiki which caused Killian to be in a dream-like state, where he would fight his own inner demons. He would stay as a tiki until he came to terms with what he felt were the wrongs he had done in his life. Until that point, he would stay in the tiki.

When he had been first placed in said tiki, however, the Liarian who placed him there (Till) placed a spell on him that would allow him to continue fighting for good. He had done this because of a great kindness Killian had done to specifically a family member of Till's during one of Killian's many exploits to try and become a hero. During that time Killian went by a different name, after his father: Auric the Conqueror.

"I now summon you, Auric..." Jodo said, sticking the gold key into the slot on the tiki. The tiki began to glow with Key Magic as it grew to be of average humanoid height. Stretching, the warrior looked down at Jodo.

"I am Auric the Conqueror!" He said in his comically heroic voice. In his dream-like state, he was imagining himself as a sort of champion for small children, a shadow of his Willpower to have been able to save Henry back in the Nathadian Universe. With foggy vision caused by his dream state, he continued to stare at Jodo. "Ah, yes! I remember you! Do you have another request, small little furry man?"

Jodo pointed with one finger out the window of the Ragnarok as the ship began to be targeted by the fighters of the United Alliance of Evil. "Out there... There are innocent people being hurt. Please help them."

Auric exhaled in shock. "What!? Innocent people being hurt!? That's impossible!"

Jodo then watched as Key Magic enveloped Auric before he was teleported off the spaceship and out into space. As he appeared, he pulled out his broadsword and began firing beams of Morphing Energy at the fighters buzzing about.

"No one stands before Dark Specter like you have," Ecliptor stated as he stood atop a floating platform before Auric. He easily blocked a blast from Auric and pointed his own blade in Auric's direction. "And now your string of interferences against the mighty Dark Specter ends!"

"Impossible!" Auric cried out. "No one has ever been able to block my attacks so easily!"

Ecliptor laughed. "Recently we discovered your little secret: you work with Liarians. You see, Dark Specter's predecessor Maligore was captured long ago by Key Magic. He studied it all of these years to ensure he would never have to deal with getting trapped by it himself. He's had the power to negate your Magic all along! Now that we know you use it, it'll be all too simple to end you!"

"No matter!" Auric cried out. "I guess I'll just have to use brute force against you!"

Ecliptor laughed. "Go ahead and try. I think you'll see I'm more than enough for you..."

As Auric zoomed forward, he suddenly heard a battle cry in the distance. Looking at the corner of his eye, he was relieved to see the cavalry arrive (which he knew was likely assigned to come by Zordon of Eltar) dressed in attire similar to when the Nathadian themed Rangers would don their "Battery Mode" outfits that tapped the Emotional Spectrum: it was the Green Lantern Corps.

Their captain, a fuchsia-skinned humanoid known as Sinestro, furrowed his brow. "The United Alliance of Evil is converging onto Krypton. The Kryptonians are losing the battle. We cannot let them take Krypton! They have tech on that planet that is keeping their star from going nova. We must not fail!"

His second in command, Kilowog, raised up a hand. On one of his fingers was the ring the Oans had made for the Green Lantern Corps to channel the Green Energy from the Emotional Spectrum. "Let us fight for Krypton!"

Sinestro watched as his team flew out before him, ready to fight. One part of him was extremely proud of them: they were flying headfirst into battle, ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of the universe like he had trained them to. Another part of himself felt badly for them, because there was one thing they knew not about the mission: they were destined to fail.

"Are you in position?" Master Vile asked Sinestro over his earpiece.

Sinestro nodded. "Yes, I am. The Green Lanterns are all fighting before me as we speak."

"You know what to do," Master Vile said. "And congratulations once again on your wisdom in picking the winning team."

The leader of the Green Lantern Corps nodded. He then pulled out from a small pouch he had tucked into his uniform the illegal item he forged with the help of the official scientist of the UAE, Deviot. He took the small object out of the pouch. Before it could eat away at the Green Energy coming from his his Green Ring, he took the weapon off his finger and put it into the pouch. He then put the illegal item on his finger: a Yellow Ring, fueled by the energy able to consume the Green Energy of the Emotional Spectrum (Willpower): the Yellow Energy of Fear.

"I am sorry, my friends," Sinestro said as the new Yellow Suit appeared over his body. "But you are all on the losing side of this war."

"Ah!" Kilowog cried out as the Yellow Energy from Sinestro's ring hit him. "What was that!?"

"That, old friend, was the feeling of Fear itself," Sinestro said. "And as my first token of allegiance to Dark Specter, I have been tasked with destroying you _all_."

As Sinestro began his massacre (for the Green Lanterns had no experience in dealing with such a threat), Auric continued his battle against Ecliptor. He was greatly surprised at the Demon Cyborg's ability to handle himself in battle.

"It is obvious you are trained!" Auric said as one of his attacks was parried. "Who trained you!?"

As the question hit him, Ecliptor involuntarily began to try and recall who had trained him. As he did, a flash of an old memory entered his mind. "Huh? Um... his name was... Prince Philip..."

As he said the name, Auric slashed at Ecliptor and caused his sword to fly out of his hand, floating away into space. "Ha! Prince Philip!? I..."

Suddenly, a memory popped into Auric's mind. He could see the man who Ecliptor mentioned standing on the deck of a ship as he and many other people who were dressed as pirates jumped onto the ship to ransack it. As he was lost in thought, Ecliptor kicked Auric, causing him to lose his sword as well.

"I know Prince Philip..." Auric said as his voice began to turn into that of Killian's.

The voice caused Ecliptor's mind to buzz. "Killian!? No... No! For the United Alliance of Evil!"

"That name... Killian..." Auric said as he was tackled by Ecliptor. The two floated in space as the battle between Sinestro, the Green Lanterns, the Kryptonians, and the officers of the UAE continued around them.

Suddenly, a flash of spiritual energy occurred between Auric and Ecliptor, caused by their Nathadian ancestry intermingling. As the red light hit them, they looked at each other.

"David?" Auric asked in confusion.

"Killian!?" Ecliptor gasped. As he was about to utter another word, he was teleported away.

"No! David!" Auric yelled. Before he could say anything else, he was teleported back to the Ragnarok.

"We have to go!" Jodo demanded.

"No! I must head back! I know that man!" Auric cried out in Killian's voice.

"Your voice... it-" Jodo began. Before he could finish his sentence, though, the Ragnarok was hit by a massive missile made of Yellow Energy. It was a missile created from the mind of Sinestro, able to mold the energy into anything his mind could imagine due to the power in his ring. Sinestro watched as the Ragnarok exploded into millions of pieces, Jodo and his wife unceremoniously falling with their ancient ship.

"Now finish the Green Lanterns," Master Vile commanded.

"On your order." Said Sinestro as he floated back to the rest of the battle.

Flying off, Sinestro missed one detail: Auric's tiki floating in space, the gold key sitting in the keyhole.

. . .

The Head of the Council of Krypton nodded as he heard the arguments before him. He knew they were all on edge, and they had to be tempered. "Listen here! We have done all that we could!"

The head scientist for Krypton, Jor-El, shook his head. "No! We can still fight! We can reactivate the Power Rangers. I have the Starlight Crystals still!"

"No!" The leader of the armed forces of Krypton, General Zod, cried out as he pounded his fists onto the table before him. "For centuries you scientists have tried to get those crystals to produce Power Rangers like we used to have in the Beast Watch program, but time and time again you have failed!"

"We must at least give another try!" Jor-El implored.

The Elder of the Council shook his head. "I assure you all that everything will be fine. General Zod is doing all he can to defend us, and according to Brainiac our perimeter is secure against Dark Specter."

"Brainiac must be wrong!" Jor-El contested. "According to my calculations, our force fields are near depleted!"

"Check your numbers again, scientist!" Zod mocked as he laughed. "Trust me and my soldiers."

"Meeting adjourned!" The Elder yelled out, dismissing the council.

. . .

Jor-El rushed into his home. His wife, Lara Lor-Van, saw the look of Fear on his face and began to Fear herself. "They didn't listen to you!?"

"No, and I think the shields will fall soon. Then Dark Specter's kamikaze fighters will dive straight into our machinery maintaining our sun and after that... it'll be mere moments until it goes nova." Jor-El said as he rushed about.

"What do we do!?" She demanded in Fear. "Is there any way to save ourselves!?"

Turning to her with tears in his eyes, he shook his head. "No, there is not, but... we can still save our son."

"Kal-El..." Lara said, turning to see the newborn playing in his crib. "Are you going to use the small ship, then, as his way to escape?"

"Yes. Although it was meant for transporting vegetation, I can inject Kal with some chemicals that will cause him to fall asleep and stay in stasis until he lands." Jor-El said as he placed a few different colored crystals into the vessel.

"Why are you putting the Starlight Crystals in there?" Lara asked, hands trembling as she tried not to think of what was inevitably coming.

"In case the planet he is going to needs the extra power." Jor-El said as he hastily grabbed his son and placed him in the small ship.

"Oh, Kal my baby!" Lara cried out suddenly as she couldn't keep herself stable any longer. She fell to her knees and screamed in anguish. "It can't end like this!"

"It won't! At least not for him!" Jor-El said as he helped his wife up.

Sobbing still, she looked to her husband. "Where is he going?"

"I'm sending him to the only man I know I can trust in the universe: Zordon of Eltar. There, Kal will also have the added benefits of the photonucleic effect due to their yellow sun." Jor-El said as he input the coordinates into the ship.

"What if you're wrong!?" Lara countered. "Brainiac is our super computer! How can you say he's wrong!? He's never been wrong before..."

With all the confidence he had, he turned and stared at his wife. "I know I'm not wrong. There has to be something wrong with Brainiac. I don't know what, but there is something wrong..."

Sighing, not knowing her husband to ever be wrong, she nodded. "Okay."

Standing over their baby boy, Jor-El kissed his son on the forehead. "Good journey, my boy. You will be the last of us. Do us proud..."

Lara kissed him as well, tears streaming down her face. "Please know I will always love you... Goodbye..."

As they stepped back, Jor-El and Lara heard a deafening sound. It was unmistakable: the shield around Krypton had fallen, just as Jor-El had warned. Looking at his son, he sighed in relief that he had acted quickly. Had he hesitated even for a moment after the council meeting, all would have been lost.

"Now, Jor-El!" Lara screamed.

"Goodbye, Kal-El!" He said as the ship launched after he pushed the button on his remote.

As the ship blasted up and into the sky, Lara turned to Jor-El. "I love you."

"And I love you." He said as he embraced her in their last kiss amongst the living.

. . .

From the Dark Fortress, Dark Specter watched as the red sun of Krypton began to collapse, no longer being protected by the equipment that he had caused to be destroyed. No one knew the reason the sun had become unstable to begin with was due to Castiel destroying Azazel outside of Michael's prison thousands of years earlier. Azazel's energy had caused the sun to grow unstable when it hit the massive red sun, but the Kryptonians had been able to create tech to stabilize it. After so many years, though, Fate intervened and another Demon, Dark Specter, came in and finished what Azazel's power had not.

"Excellent," Dark Specter said. "That was a grand blow for the UAE. Those peace loving fools are soon to be dust... This as well as the defeat of the greatest group of Green Lanterns Oa had will send a message to Zordon of Eltar. He will see that no matter how many contingency plans he may have, I will crush each and every last one of them..."

Master Vile nodded as General Zod and Sinestro stood behind him. "Your plans are falling into place. As we activate our sleeper agents across the universe, we will slowly destroy anyone who stands against our United Alliance!"

"Yes... Now Zod... Is the computer we corrupted onboard?" Dark Specter asked.

"Yes," Zod replied. "Brainiac is onboard and Deviot is fitting him with a body like you ordered."

"Excellent. You both are dismissed. I will call upon you when I am ready. Sinestro? Return to Oa as a Green Lantern and tell them what happened... neglect to inform them of your Yellow Ring, though," Dark Specter ordered.

"On your order." Sinestro said as both he and Zod left the room.

"How is Ecliptor? Have they been able to stop him from regaining his memories?" Dark Specter asked Master Vile.

"Yes. Deviot wiped his mind again. He is once again your loyal Cyborg," Master Vile declared. Then, pointing out the window, he said: "The star is exploding."

Hitting a button on his console, Dark Specter ordered: "Let us leave here immediately."

"What of your soldiers still floating out there?" Master Vile asked.

"Disposable." Dark Specter answered as he took his seat upon his throne. "Now let us continue our plans..."

. . .

The last surviving Green Lantern, Abin Sur, followed the ship carrying Kal-El from the Kryptonian solar system. He was using the last bit of his strength to create a sort of energy cord from his Power Ring to allow him to stay tethered to the infant's ship, taking him he knew not where. As he traveled, he used a short burst of energy to send a message to Oa: *Sinestro is a traitor. Yellow Lantern*

He was unsure if his message was clear enough, but it was all he had energy to send. As he trailed the ship in space for what must have been many months, he suddenly found himself entering the atmosphere of a blue planet.

During the turbulence of the entry into the planet, Abin Sur's ship lost its connection to the Kryptonian vessel and was catapulted away from it. His ship began hurtling toward the ground uncontrollably. Losing sight of Kal-El's ship, Abin Sur saw another curious object flying off the ship as well. It was the tiki containing Auric, having been caught up by the ship's gravitational pull as well.

Fully losing sight of Kal-El's ship, Abin Sur crashed onto a beach. He tried shielding himself with Green Energy, but found his shield too weak. He hit the ground hard and knew his Life would soon be ending.

"Wow..." A little boy said as he stood over the crater Abin Sur had created from his impact.

Abin Sur looked up at the boy. He could feel strong, natural Green Energy flowing through the child.

 _What a marvel!_ He thought to himself. _Although my life may end here, Fate has brought to me a person to carry on the legacy... someone to protect this planet..._

"Are you okay!?" The young boy cried out.

Coughing, Abin Sur opened his mouth. "I am a Green Lantern. You... You, too, shall be a Green Lantern."

"What!?" The boy choked out. "Sorry, um... I don't understand..."

"What is your name, child?" Abin Sur asked.

The boy furrowed his brow. He had been taught not to speak with strangers but something inside him told him this was different. "Hal. Hal Jordan."

. . .

Out in the cornfields of Smallville, a farmer by the name of Jonathan Kent ran to look at the _thing_ that had crash landed into his farmland. His wife Martha ran quickly behind him. They knew not it was the ship meant to go to Zordon in Angel Grove. They knew not there even was a Zordon. They didn't know that an alien and a tiki had given too much mass to the ship's trajectory and had taken the ship off course. They only knew that their field was on fire.

Reaching the fire, they gasped as they saw the ship. Jonathan looked to Martha in disbelief. He knew the fire department would be in soon, but he didn't know how he would explain the ship.

"Wait... do you hear that!?" Martha exclaimed, a faint sound coming from the flames.

"A baby!" Yelled out Jonathan. Braving the flames, he ran in and looked through the clear window of the small ship. As he touched it, it automatically opened. Jonathan pulled the boy out and rushed him out of the flames.

"It's a little boy..." Martha said.

"You know that government thing... SHIELD... is going to be crawling all over this place. They'll take the boy and test him..." Jonathan said, recalling the recent episode of _Twilight Zone_ he had seen on television.

"Then we'll say that he's ours," Martha insisted. "We can't let them take the boy... They can have the ship, but not the boy..."

"What!?" Jonathan asked incredulously.

"We've always wanted a child, Jonathan!" Martha said, beginning to smile. "Maybe now is our chance..."

Jonathan smiled. "Maybe you're right. But... I mean, what's his name!?"

"We can use my maiden name?" Martha suggested.

Jonathan nodded in approval. "I... I like it. Well, welcome to the family, Clark Kent."

. . .

Somewhere in Africa, a young man found the tiki of Auric as it crashed into the ground. He reached down and turned the key. As he did, the Key Magic wrapped around the tiki and caused Auric to come forth. Due to having been placed back in tiki form, he was back in his dream-like state, having forgotten his recent encounter with David/Ecliptor.

"Hello, little boy! I am Auric the Conqueror! How may I be of assistance?"

Before the boy could answer, a van pulled up, seemingly out of nowhere. From out of it stepped out two caucasian men and a young boy.

"Whoa... a real alien! You were right!" The boy exclaimed as he stepped out of the car.

"Who dares to approach me as I try to help this little boy!? I am Auric! What business do you have here!?"

The man with a patch over his eye smiled. "My name is Nick Fury. This is my associate Howard Stark and his son, Anthony. We were in the area studying a disease hitting the animals around here when we got a signal saying you had landed here. What is your business on our planet?"

"I am a hero to the defenseless!" Auric proclaimed.

Nick smiled as he looked to Stark. "What do you think? Should he be a part of the initiative, then? He seems to be a hero."

Stark scrunched his face as he began to think. "I dunno... He may not be what Zordon was thinking of. What do you think, Tony?"

The young boy smiled. "I love his suit of iron, man! I'd say bring him in!"

Nick Fury nodded as he took a step toward Auric. "Good enough for me. Hello, Auric. I am also a man trying to help the defenseless. I am heading up a special team to do that. We wanted to see if you'd be interested in joining. It's a little group we're thinking of naming 'The Avengers'."


	7. 1950: The Zamboni Girl and the Crystal

**1950: The Zamboni Girl and the Crystal**

 ** _1950 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Donna Winslow attempted the double Axel for what felt like the millionth time. As she leapt off the ice, she could feel her body spin in the air. It was early in the morning, so the bitter wind mixed with the cold emanating from the ice beneath her, biting at what skin she had exposed. She could feel her body getting close. She knew all she had to do was-

"Oof!" Donna screamed as her head slammed into the ice. Lifting her head up and rubbing it painfully, she heard laughter behind her from _them_.

"Who do you think you are, Donna? Dick Button? Stick to your job working the zamboni." Mary, the leader of the group Donna thought of as "The Flock" skated by, giggling. Her blonde hair flowed behind her as she skated by.

Ice shavings hit Donna in the face. She knew Mary had done so purposefully, but what was she to do? Call her out on it? Mary was the Homecoming Queen. One did not simply walk up to the most popular girl in school and call her out on her horrible behavior. Like so many others, Donna knew the routine: you either joined The Flock or you suffered under her reign. Her secret reign.

 _All the guys and teachers are so fooled by her!_ Donna thought bitterly as she picked herself up. _If they only knew what kind of a demon she really was! Ugh!_

Fighting back tears, Donna skated off the ice and took of her blades. Angry and humiliated, Donna slipped on her shoes and tied the laces of her blades together before throwing them over her shoulder. It was a Saturday and it had only just began. She wasn't going to let Mary ruin her day before it even really started.

As she began to walk home, she noticed several men blocking the road she usually took to her house. They wore fancy suits and sunglasses. Her heart was in her throat as she saw them. She knew who they were. She had seen them on TV and knew what their presence meant. They were SHIELD agents and their being in her hometown of Mariner Bay meant only one thing: it was being targeted by the League of Assassins.

 _I need to get home immediately!_ Donna thought to herself in a panic. _Mom and Dad will be worried sick. But... ugh! This detour adds like a mile to my way home. I shouldn't have gone out today..._

Desperate to get home to her parents, Donna jumped the fence next to her. Her plan was to go from yard to yard, undetected by SHIELD, to get home. She was extremely worried because her family wasn't exactly the most educated of families in the town. In fact, she was the first to make it through to her senior year. She feared that they would get so worried about her being out during an attack on the city that they may keep her home to protect her. She was very close to being able to graduate, and she didn't want to risk her parents getting so afraid that they would get in her way, to protect her.

Still sore from her fall earlier that morning, Donna climbed over each fence very slowly. By the time she had reached her fourth yard, her leg muscles were aching and her head was still hurting from the fall. In fact, her vision began to blur and a headache began. She knew not she was suffering from the effects of a concussion.

"Ugh..." She groaned as she stumbled forward, leaning against a tree in the yard to keep her balance. "I think I'm going to throw up..."

As she felt the contents of her stomach begin to churn, a loud explosion erupted at the fence where she would have been climbing had she not gotten ill. She watched as several SHIELD agents were thrown back, lifeless.

Sobered up quickly, Donna tensed up in fear. She then heard laughter. Snapping out of her shock, she dived into some bushes next to a tool shed that was in the yard. As she peaked out from the bushes, she saw a sight that terrified her more than the explosion had: a man in a purple suit and trenchcoat with matching purple hat. The man had a pale white face, green hair, and a disgustingly hideous grin seemingly etched onto his face. It was the right hand man to the League of Assassins. It was the Joker.

"Ah, isn't that a shame?" Joker asked to the Assassins surrounding him on either side. They all carried weapons ranging from laser guns to simple blades. "They can't play with us anymore. They're _broken_. Oh, well... Let's go grab that shipment before Ra's wonders why we've been taking so long."

Donna swallowed hard. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself _following_ the League of Assassins slowly after they left the yard. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her and before she could stop herself, she was hiding beside a parked car as the Joker and his assassins opened an armored car with keys they took from a fallen SHIELD agent. She looked inside and saw some glowing objects in the van.

"The Starlight Crystals! Woo-hoo!" Joker said happily as he spun around in place. "Okay, now. Ra's will be _very_ happy with this. Yes he certainly will!"

"You mean he _would've_ been happy, had you been able to actually give them to him," A deep and mysterious voice said.

Although the smile never left Joker's face, it contorted in such a way that the only way Donna could think to describe it would be that he frowned. Hate filled Joker's eyes as he looked around.

"It's _him,_ " Joker spat. "Formations, people! Come on! This is what you've been training for!"

Before they could move into formation, a cloud of smoke appeared in the street. With a serene and calmness about him, a figure stepped out of the smoke. He wore what appeared to be gray armor with a jet black cape/cowl. The cowl had two points reminiscent of ears on the top. He did not flinch as he stepped forward, assassins leaping at him to take his Life. Donna watched in awe as he masterfully blocked each blow. He moved with such fluidity that she would have been surprised to know he had broken a sweat.

After the last of the dozen or so assassins had fallen to the concrete, Joker clapped sarcastically. "Oh, yes. I'm _so_ impressed. Come at me, Batman."

The Dark Knight known as the Batman nodded. "As you wish, Joker."

Donna watched from a distance as Joker leapt out of the back of the car, Hyena Spirit surging through him. Batman stood calmly as the Joker landed on him. He simply moved to the side, grabbing Joker by the back of his collar and allowing his momentum to help slam him into the road.

"Is that all you've got!?" Joker asked as he laughed, blood dripping down his mouth.

"No, but it's all I need," Batman replied casually.

Joker looked at him in confusion before looking back at the armored car. Rage was written on his face as he saw it lifted up off the street and carried up and into the air. He sneered as he looked from it back to Batman.

"Seriously? You couldn't come on your own!? You had to bring Superboy!?"

Donna could hear from Batman's voice that he had a smile on his face. "Why so serious, Joker?"

As he said that, Joker began to laugh. _Hard_. "Was that a _joke_!? Ah-hahahahaha! You told me a funny! I knew I was getting to you! I knew it! I knew it! Ah-hahaha!"

Batman suddenly had his head perk up. Donna saw him shake his head. "No, Fury. We don't need the Avengers to come. Superboy and I were able to get the Starlight Crystals to safety."

While he said that into his comm device, Superboy landed. He had placed the armored car in a safe location for Stark Industries to collect. He frowned as he stepped forward. "Seriously!? Why are people still calling me Super _boy_!?"

Joker chuckled as he was still sitting on the ground, Batman holding him by the collar. "Have you _seen_ your face!? Your face is smoother than a baby's bottom!"

"Maybe I should start wearing a mask. I mean, people don't call Flash 'Kid Flash'. They don't call you Bat _boy_. I'm not even in the Teen Titan Initiative!" Superboy protested as he bent down to take Joker.

"I know, I know. Maybe give it a few more years, Kal." Batman said, smirking. "And Joker? You're under-"

Before he could finish, Joker was teleported away. Batman sighed heavily as it occurred.

"Can't say I didn't see that coming. So Stark hasn't found a way yet to block Ra's from teleporting people?" Batman asked.

"No," Superboy answered. "The only facility that can block it is Barry's STAR Labs bunker."

"Shame. Okay. Let's get out of here," Batman said.

Donna stared on as Superboy floated up and behind Batman. Picking him up, she saw Superboy fly away as he carried Batman under him.

 _That was so groovy!_ Donna thought happily as she stepped out from behind the car. _I can't wait to tell everyone at school. Let's see Mary top_ _that_ _._

As she walked forward, Donna saw something curious on one of the lawns. Bending over close to it, she saw a shiny rock-like object. It was one of the Starlight Crystals.

A smile crept over Donna's face. _And now I will have proof of what happened, too!_

 _. . ._

The entire weekend Donna spent thinking of how she was going to tell the story of her exploits. She rehearsed in front of the mirror in her room, adding descriptive adverbs and adjectives to the story to flower it up as much as possible. Before going to bed Sunday night after her umpteenth rehearsal, she discovered something: the story seemed to stand on its own two legs. She just needed to tell it like it happened and show the crystal.

Reflecting on that epiphany once again early Monday morning, Donna got her skates ready. Although her job required her to run the zamboni once before she went to school every other day (sharing the responsibility with another girl her age from school), she felt like going on a skate before running the machine. The excitement of the fight was fresh in her mind and she felt like if she didn't get any exercise into her system that her body would explode with fidgeting.

"Where are you going so early, miss?" Donna's mom asked as she saw her daughter appear in the kitchen scavenging for an early morning snack. "You're forty five minutes earlier than usual!"

"I feel like doing a couple of laps around the rink before I resurface it. That's all." Donna replied casually as she found and peeled a banana.

Mr. Winslow frowned. "Are you sure you should be heading out so soon after that big attack on the city, dear?"

Donna swallowed the banana as if it were a rock. Her worse nightmare was becoming a reality. "Oh, Daddy, don't be silly! Superman and Batman already took care of it!"

Mrs. Winslow cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you mean Super _boy_?"

Donna flashed her parents a smile as she began to leave the kitchen. "I have it on good authority he prefers Superman."

Bolting out as quickly as she could, grabbing her ice skates by her front door, she left the house. Happy she was able to get away before being banned from her life, she made the trip to her ice rink. On the way, she had to cross the street where it had all occurred. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she crossed the street, fond memories fresh in her mind replaying of the amazing event she had witnessed.

Finally arriving at the outdoor ice rink, Donna sat down as she slipped her shoes off and put on her blades. Afraid someone may come by and grab her backpack she left it on. She didn't want anyone snatching her hidden treasure inside: the Starlight Crystal.

On the ice, Donna began to circle the rink as a warm-up for a couple of laps. Feeling the wind against her face felt liberating, as if she could fly. With that thought in mind, she recalled Superboy flying awaying carrying Batman.

 _How must it feel to fly like that?_ She thought. _It must be amazing. Sheesh, I can't even imagine. I can't even land a double Axel. Granted that's pro level, but still... Hehe...I bet Superboy could do an infinite-Axel!_

Her memories from Saturday quickly switched from Superboy's heroic flight to Donna's own humiliating fall. Mary's laughter echoed through her mind. As it did, Donna clenched her jaw. She was going to attempt at a single Axel. She wanted _something_ to boost her confidence.

Being an avid skater who had once dreamed of being an Olympic skater as a young child, she had her fair share of time on the ice, though she could never afford a real trainer due to her parents not having any money. She had taken the job at the rink to get in some free time on the ice. It had become a fun hobby of hers, coming in at time early to skate. One point, several months prior, she had actually landed an Axel rotation. She tried telling others at school about it, but no one believed her. At one point The Flock had come in early after her claims and had taunted Donna to show them what she could do. Unfortunately it seemed as if the Axel was a one time incident where everything had worked out for Donna: upon trying to land the Axel, Donna fell and could not secure the landing. Ever since then, Mary had made a point of making fun of Donna whenever she saw her on the ice.

Feeling the muscles in her leg bunch up, Donna leapt into the air. As she did, she began to spin. She had never felt so confident as she flew through the air. After the first spin, she flew such power in her that she decided to spin again. After a moment, she found herself landing nimbly on the ice, skating in a circle to ease her momentum. As she did, heart racing, she heard clapping. Startled, she spun around.

"That was amazing," The young man said. "Really impressive. I know Dick Button just did a double Axel in the Olympics. If I counted correctly, you just did a _quadruple_. Are you a pro?"

The girl stared at him wide eyed. She recognized the muscular young man, but the fact she had just accomplished what she thought of as an impossible feat left her mind racing. " _Four_ and a half spins!? Are you serious!?"

He smiled. "Sure am. Nice to meet you, I'm-"

She had a smile from ear to ear as she cut him off. "Bruce Wayne! I know, I've seen you on the news! You're the richest young man in the world!"

Bruce gave her a smile. "I guess my reputation precedes me..."

"What are you doing here in Mariner Bay, though!? You're pretty far from Gotham City," Donna asked, curious.

He smiled. "I'm here on business."

"'Business'? At an old ice rink? This early in the morning?" Donna questioned.

Bruce shrugged. "I'm more of a night person myself, so this is technically _late_ for me. Actually, I had decided recently that I was going to start taking up skating. I have a... um... _business rival_ by the name of Victor who makes my life very difficult. Learning to ice skate is something I've started to do to be able to level the playing field."

Donna cocked an eyebrow. "Sounds like some weird business if it involves ice skating."

Bruce blushed. "Oh, um... well... He likes to take me ice skating on our business outings."

"Ah..." Donna said, feeling surprisingly nonplussed by the fact she was conversing with one of the most powerful men in the world. There was something about that Monday morning that had her feeling absolutely magical. As if anything she did would be a success.

"So, is it okay if I join you? It's six in the morning and-" Bruce began.

"Ah!" Donna yelped. "Six!? I'm gonna be late for school! Sorry, but the rink is closed!"

"Huh?" Bruce wondered aloud. He thought his flirting with her was genuinely working.

"I'm supposed to resurface the ice before my first class starts in fifteen minutes! I _work_ here!" Donna blurted out, trying not to show her embarrassment that she wasn't a professional skater, but merely an employee.

"Then head on to class," Bruce said. "I'll take care of it."

"What!? No! I'll get in trouble! And I can't make you do something like that!" Donna protested.

Bruce flashed her another smile. "I'm Bruce Wayne. You can't make me do anything: I'm choosing to help because I want to. Also, if your supervisor gets upset, I'll just buy this place and give it to you as a gift. Trust me... you'll be fine."

Donna's head was swimming. _Is he picking up on me!?_ _Bruce Wayne_ _, the millionaire!? What's going on!?_

"Than... thank you! How can I ever repay you!?" Donna gasped as she skated off the ice and sat down near her shoes.

Bruce shrugged. "Oh, I dunno... how about I pick you up for dinner tonight?"

Donna blushed. "Me!? Why!?"

"Because you're not intimidated by me. You seem smart, and you're beautiful," Bruce answered. "I want to get to know you better to see if my first impressions of you are true."

Donna felt like fainting. "I... I ... I..."

Laughing, Bruce reached out his hand and helped her onto her feet. "I really hope your next word is 'accept'."

"You don't even know my name!" Donna blurted out involuntarily.

"It's Donna. Says so on your backpack," Bruce said.

"Well, aren't you quite the detective." Donna said, blushing.

Bruce chuckled. "I've been called that quite a lot. So...?"

"Yes, sure. Do you want to meet here?" Donna asked.

"Sure. How's six?" Bruce asked as he looked her in the eyes.

"Okay. I'll see you then..." Donna said, blushing more than she ever had in her life. Ecstatic, she turned and began sprinting toward school. As she did, she noticed more energy than she ever had. She felt as if she was running faster than she ever had before.

 _I never knew being asked out on a date got you feeling so good!_ Donna mused to herself as she ran down the street.

Meanwhile, Bruce couldn't keep his eyes off of her while she raced away. Whistling, he laughed. "Wow, is she athletic. She'd even give _Barry Allen_ a run for his money! Haha!"

Turning around, he looked at the ice rink needing to be resurfaced. The sign on the outdoor rink said it was open to the public after seven in the morning, but he was already in due to Donna having left the fence around the rink unlocked. Sighing as he stared at the zamboni, he shook his head. He had no idea how to run one of those pieces of machinery. He was fairly certain he could learn quickly, but he wasn't in the mood. He pulled out a pocket device and spoke into it.

"This is Bruce Wayne. Redirect call to Professor Charles Xavier, please."

"This is Charles. How may I be of assistance?" The voice came through from the other end.

Bruce smiled as he began to speak back. "I'm going to send you my coordinates. Could I get some assistance from Bobby? I have some _ice_ related problems I think he could help me solve..."

 _. . ._

During lunch, Donna grabbed her food tray and sat at a table, choosing to be alone. She was going through a lot in her mind and was having a hard time processing it. From landing a quadruple Axel, to being asked on a date by _the_ Bruce Wayne, to getting a perfect score on her algebra pop quiz that morning (which subject she normally got a "C" average in), she was very confused. She was concerned that it was a calm before a storm. Things had never gone so well for her, even in such a short matter of time. She was even too preoccupied to brag to her classmates about what had occurred with her on Saturday like she had planned to.

"Watch out!" The captain of the football team and quarterback yelled as he threw a pass in the middle of the cafeteria to his buddy on the other side of the room. He had miscalculated the pass and it went sailing too far to the left. Right at Donna.

Looking up, she saw the pigskin flying toward her. Reaching out one arm, she caught the football midair singlehandedly.

"Oooooh!" Roared many people in the cafeteria. Clapping and cheers erupted for the sight.

"Nice catch!" The football captain cried out. "I'll just go over there and grab it from you, though. You're a girl and, well... you all know how you gals are at throwing..."

As the cheers turned into laughter (aimed at her just because of her gender), Donna pursed her lips. Standing up, she cocked her arm back and threw the football at the jock as hard as she could. She watched wide eyed and in shock as the ball not only went straight toward him, but hit him square in the chest and caused him to fall onto his back.

"Hey! You can't treat him like that you square!" Mary shouted, stampeding over to Donna with The Flock characteristically tagging along behind her. "How dare you do that to my boyfriend!?"

Donna clenched a fist. "I don't care who he is. He needs to learn some manners."

"Who do you think you are, talking back to me like that!?" Mary shrieked as the cafeteria grew dead silent.

Breathing hard and filled with anger, Donna straightened her posture and looked Mary straight in the eyes. "I'm Donna Winslow. And _you_ need to learn not to talk back to _me_."

Mary's eyes went wild with fury. "You little twerp!"

Donna watched as Mary thrust her hands out before her to grab at her. She was almost going in slow motion. Easily defending herself, Donna grabbed her by each wrist and and did a shoulder shrug and lifted up. As she did, she watched Mary fly off her feet. Letting go of the bully, Donna saw her flail in midair for a moment ala Wile E. Coyote before she slammed into the hard floor.

After a moment of silence, cheers erupted from the girls in the cafeteria. Not only those watching from their seats, but also from The Flock. Shocked, Donna quickly turned and sprinted out of the cafeteria.

 _What's happening to me!?_ She thought as she sprinted onto the football field.

A few feet away, the track and field coach spotted her running in the direction of his team as they practiced. "Hey! You! Get out of the way!"

Before she could think twice, she saw a javelin flying through the air right at her. Throwing her hands out in front of her face, she caught the flying metal rod in between her palms, the tip a mere inch from her nose.

"Holy moly!" The track coach yelled. "Did you all see that!? Hey! You! Get over here! That was amazing!"

Dropping the javelin, Donna turned and booked it out of the field (inadvertently running beside the fastest sprinter in the school and outrunning him as he ran beside her on the track). She stopped in the school parking lot, leaning against the side wall of the school and breathing hard.

 _How is this happening!?_ She demanded in thought.

"There she is!" Donna heard someone cry out.

Sighing, she turned around and put her hands up in the air. "Please not right now. I'm really confused right now and-"

"Sorry, little lady. I'm afraid your request will not be fulfilled at the moment."

Frowning, Donna looked up to see who was speaking to her. She gasped as her eyes fell upon a man. He was hideous. And she knew who he was. A truly _evil_ man. He was the head of one of the darkest organizations on Earth: Hydra. His name was Red Skull.

"Ahhh!" Donna screamed as several Hydra agents rushed in from behind him toward her.

Red Skull smiled a horrible smile as she screamed. "My scanners say you have something of value to Ra's al Ghul. If he wants it, then surely it will be of value to me..."

As the Hydra agents rushed forward, Donna screamed. "What is it that I have!?"

"Give us the Starlight Crystal!" Red Skull demanded.

Donna watched as the first two agents of evil reached out to grab her. She got into a fighting stance on instinct and kicked their hands away.

"Don't make me shoot you, kid!"

"Stay away!" Donna cried out. She wanted to give them the crystal in her bag, but she knew that the world was at war with evil. If she gave them what they wanted, she would never be able to live with herself. She'd rather go down fighting than willingly betray mankind.

"You asked for it!" The soldier said as he pointed his gun at Donna. Before he could shoot, though, a batarang flew through the air and knocked it out of his hand.

"Mind if I help, miss?" Batman asked as he landed in front of her, his cape billowing during the descent from the building's roof.

"Not at all..." Donna replied as she backed away.

"Fire!" Red Skull screamed.

"I don't think so." Superboy said as he used his super speed to race around and knock the firearms out of the soldiers hands.

"Stop toying with them," Batman said.

Superboy sighed. "Fine."

Donna watched as Superboy flew forward and knocked out each guard. He then raced ahead to grab Red Skull.

"Your reign of terror ends- agh!" Superboy cried out, falling to his knees.

Red Skull pulled out a glowing green rock and smiled. "I thought you may be coming. I came prepared with your weakness- _Kryptonite_!"

"Kal!" Batman screamed, throwing a batarang at the Kryptonite. He sneered as Red Skull caught it with his other hand.

"I've been juicing, Batman," Red Skull said simply. "You'll see that I'm more than enough of a threat for y- oof!"

Suddenly, a giant disc flew through the air and hit Red Skull in the face, sending him flying back. A man in a blue outfit walked slowly toward Superboy to help him up. Donna knew him from the news. It was none other than Captain America.

"Thanks, Cap..." Superboy groaned as he was pulled away from the deadly alien rock.

"Not a problem," Captain America stated. He then looked to Batman. "How about we take Red Skull in now... _together_?"

Batman shook his head. "Too late. He teleported away."

"Gosh dang it..." Captain America said as he reached for a comm device in his helmet. "Stark? I thought you had the area clear!?"

Tony Stark's voice rang in Captain America's ears. "Sorry, Steve. Jarvis had a break in his firewall."

"That is not true, sir," Jarvis replied. "You did not secure the firewall before we went in."

"Semantics. Whatever. Thing is, he's gone. _Mia culpa_."

"Okay, Cap out. Hey Br-"

"Batman. There's a civilian." Batman said, pointing to Donna.

"Right. Well, sorry I was late. You know, if we were working together-"

Batman shook his head. "I've said time and time again: I'm not joining the Avengers. I'm not going to take orders from Fury. My team is doing fine on its own."

Captain America nodded. "They are, but imagine what your Justice League could accomplish with help from SHIELD. Please, just... think about it, okay?"

"I did. Answer's no," Batman replied.

"Okay, fine. See you around." Captain America said as he turned and leapt onto the building, running across its roof to his aircraft.

"Thank you..." Donna said.

Batman turned and nodded. "No problem. Do you know why they targeted you?"

"No," Donna found herself saying. She was beginning to put two and two together: She knew that the bad guys wanted the crystal. Ever since she had the crystal, she's had abilities she never had before. She had decided it must have been some effect of the crystal. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to give it up just yet.

"Okay. Superboy? Let's go. Stay safe," Batman said as Superboy got up and flew him away.

Up in the sky, Superboy frowned. "You heard Red Skull, Bruce. She has the Starlight Crystal."

Batman sighed. "Yeah, I heard..."

"Why did we let her go, then?"

"Because, coincidentally, I have a date with her tonight. I want to see what kind of person she really is. If she keeps the crystal a secret, then... well, I guess I have my answer."

Superboy laughed. "That's kind of selfish, Bruce. What if she's attacked again?"

"Don't worry. I got J'onn and Barry watching over her right now," Batman replied.

"This is super weird, dude," Superboy said.

"Yeah, but you know...? That's the benefit of being self-employed. Imagine if we were under SHIELD. We'd never get to do things like this. You and your little crush on Ms. Lang back in Smallville? Never gonna happen with SHIELD."

"I guess you're right, Bruce."

Batman nodded. "I'm handling it. Don't worry. Now, if you could leave me at my hotel, Clark, I have to get ready for a date."

 _. . ._

Donna stood by the ice rink. She looked down at her watch nervously. It was 6:02. Two minutes past when they said they would meet. Donna was freaking out.

 _Was this all some sort of trick!? Am I the butt of a practical joke...? Yeah, that must be it. There's no way that I could-_

"Donna?" Bruce asked.

She turned to see the man standing by his limo, smiling. He wore a very nice looking black tuxedo. It made Donna feel uncomfortable, wearing only her nicest dress she wore to church on Sundays. Due to her low income situation, she looked very dressed down compared to Bruce.

Blushing and embarrassed, she looked down. "Hello, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce was taken aback. "Oh, no! No, no, no! I am _not_ going on a date with you calling me Mr. Wayne! Haha! Come on, Donna. And please call me Bruce. Alfred? Could you take us to the restaurant?"

The man standing at the front of the limo on the driver's side nodded and began to slip into the limo. "As you wish, Master Bruce."

Donna slowly made her way to Bruce. He beamed as she made her way over to him. Opening the door, he motioned for her to enter.

"Wow. I've never been in one of these before!" She stammered as she climbed in. "It's so spacious... for a car."

Bruce slipped in and nodded. "It sure is."

As the car began to move, Bruce looked over at Donna, sitting to his left against the window. "So... have you always lived in Mariner Bay?"

She nodded. "Born and raised."

"Okay. Cool, cool. And what's the closest university to here? Is that the one you go to?" Bruce asked.

Donna blushed. "I'm a senior in high school."

Swallowing hard, Bruce nodded. "Oh, okay... wow. You look a lot _older_. How old _are_ you?"

"Eighteen," Donna answered to Bruce's relief.

"Ah. When's your birthday?"

"August. I'm one of the older ones in my grade. How about you, Bruce? How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen," He answered.

"Wow. I knew you were young, but... How do you feel being in charge of your own corporation at such a young age!?"

Bruce smiled. "Really good. _Really_ good. You know how all teens tend to feel the need to rebel against 'the man', even though in the end we're probably just getting ourselves into trouble? Well, I am my own man. Yeah, I get into a lot of trouble at times, but that's why I have Alfred around. He helps keep me grounded."

"So he's more than just your butler?" Donna asked, curious about Bruce's family dynamic. She knew not to mention his parents. Even though she was very young when it happened, everyone knew about the passing away of Bruce's parents one night in an alley. It was a very sad event, but one that seemed to have molded Bruce into the business tycoon he had become.

"Alfred!? Oh, yeah! I don't even really think of him as a butler. He's more like my hip uncle who likes to help me out. Oh, and I pay him quite handsomely, too." Bruce said, adding in the last part with a smile.

"So, what is the most powerful man under twenty doing here in Mariner Bay, asking a girl like me out on a date?" Donna questioned, smiling as she did.

Bruce shrugged. "Classified business transaction. I have some artifacts in the area I'm making sure a business rival doesn't take. I've secured them all but one, actually."

"Oh, well since it's classified, I'll just wish you the best of luck in securing the final part to your business," Donna replied.

Bruce nodded. He was trying to decide how best to prod Donna, to see what he intent with the Starlight Crystal was. He felt sad his date had to become business, since he had truly just asked her beforehand not knowing she would be involved in the debacle SHIELD had caused by letting Joker so close to the crystals.

"Thank you kindly, madame." Bruce said with a wink. "Now, more about _you_... How long have you been skating like that. I'm not kidding: you should be training and competing at the professional level. I've never seen anyone land a _triple_ Axel, let alone a quadruple."

Donna swallowed hard. She knew it was due to the Starlight Crystal. She hadn't thought that anything related to it would be brought up in the conversation. What she didn't know was that Bruce had asked that purposefully. After having done some research and investigating into what a man working for SHIELD named Dr. Bruce Banner had found out about the Starlight Crystal, Bruce had discovered that the crystal reacted with certain people, thought he knew not how the crystal "picked" who it would work for. Those who were "picked" had heightened senses and abilities, leading the Starlight Crystals to be listed in the SHIELD archives in the category for "Enhanced Beings".

"I... Well, I started practicing when I was a little girl," Donna replied.

Bruce kept an unphased look on his face, but he was disappointed. There had been something about her countenance... a sort of _light_ about her that had drawn him to her when they first met. After his parents had lost their lives, he felt that he continually lived in a spiral to darkness. He had been hoping she could've been someone to which he could cling onto, to be a beacon for light. Apparently she was just like him, though: someone harboring secrets.

"Well, that practice sure has paid off. I'm very impressed! It must have taken a lot of dedication and hard work." Bruce answered, smiling eagerly as he did.

A tinge of guilt hit Donna. She was never one to take credit for something she did not do. Sighing, she looked up at Bruce. "Actually, there's something I need to tell you about what you saw this morning..."

Bruce immediately brightened up. "Oh, really?" He was very hopeful that she would end up being the kind of person he had initially thought she was.

Sighing again, Donna reached into her purse. Bruce sighed in relief as she pulled out the Starlight Crystal.

"I was able to do what I did, apparently, because of this. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mislead you. I... I didn't know until later today that this thing was having any effect on me. I even went and tried to see if I could do any of the things I did without the crystal and, well... it's _definitely_ the crystal helping me."

"Well, Donna. I also have something I want to tell you," Bruce answered.

Donna sighed for what felt like the millionth time that night. "The date is over, right?"

"No! No! It's just that I-" Bruce started. Before he could finish, a loud explosion rocked the limo. "Alfred!? Status!?"

"The League of Assassins, sir. Flash and Martian Manhunter are trying to fend them off, but it appears as if there are... _complications_ , sir," Alfred replied.

Donna stared at Bruce in shock. "Huh!?"

It was then Bruce's turn to sigh. "What complications, Alfred?"

"Reverse Flash and Heat Wave, sir. Heat Wave is staving off Martian Manhunter while Reverse Flash is, well... doing what he can to be a pest to The Flash, sir," Alfred replied matter of factly.

"Do what you need to, Alfred. Get us out of here," Bruce ordered. He then looked to Donna. "Did I ever tell you Alfred was with the CIA?"

Donna looked at Bruce, wide eyed. "Um... no?"

"Activating external lasers," Alfred said. "It seems to be having some sort of effect, sir."

Donna spun around and looked out the window. As she kneeled on the leather seat, she was shocked to see many assassins leaping forward, trying to jump onto the vehicle. Lasers kept hitting them, keeping them off. Before long, though, Donna could hear some on the roof of the car.

"Ahhh!" Donna screamed as a sword stabbed its way through the roof.

Bruce frowned. "Seriously!? I just got this thing fixed up after _last time_."

"Last time!?" Donna yelped. " _Last_ time!?"

"Alfred?" Bruce asked calmly, ignoring Donna's outburst. "Anything we can do about what's going on up on the roof?"

"Yes, sir. Superboy is coming in right now. And the jets are now fully charged, sir," Alfred replied.

"Jets!? _Superboy_!?" Donna asked in confusion. "Bruce, what's going on!?"

"The League of Assassins have targeted your crystal, Donna. My friends and I are trying to make sure the crystal stays safe," Bruce answered casually. As he did, screams could be heard from the roof. Superboy had arrived.

"Well, you sure do have some _super friends_!" Donna said, exasperated. As she did, she suddenly felt the limo rock forward, causing her to fly out of her seat and onto Bruce's lap.

"We are now airborne, sir," Alfred reported. "We are heading to a SHIELD safehouse."

"SHIELD!?" Donna gasped. "You work for SHIELD!?"

"Oh, heavens no." Bruce answered, laughing as Donna made her way back to her seat. "It's just to get us to safety quickly. Ugh... I'm definitely going to hear it from Fury, though..."

"Bruce... Oh, dear. This is all my fault." Donna said, looking down at the Starlight Crystal. "I'm so very sorry."

Bruce paused. "Donna? Leave the crystal with me for now, okay? I... I'll get it back to you."

Donna cocked an eyebrow. "Huh? Why?"

"I have some friends in Central City who may be able to help you mask that thing from the League," Bruce replied. "It's just... I don't know. They belong to me, and you seemed so happy when I saw how it helped enhance you. I don't want to take that away."

"They _belong_ to you!?" Donna gasped.

"Yes. I hired SHIELD to transport them for me. I knew Joker wanted them and figured who better than SHIELD to protect them. How wrong was I, huh? I should've kept in in-house," Bruce said, thinking of the Justice League.

"But... I don't understand..." Donna said. "Why are you helping me like this."

"I like you, Donna. You seem very nice and... I don't know. That crystal only works on some people. It picked you. Perhaps it _belongs_ with you. Just... think of it as a gift for our first date."

Donna, unable to get past her feelings due to her age, giggled. " _First_ date?"

Bruce shot her a smile. "Yes, _first_. But, before we continue this relationship I hope we can foster, there's something I need to tell you."

Donna gave Bruce a concerned look. "What, Bruce?"

Bruce breathed in deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. Images of his training with Pai Zhua Master Swoop floated in his mind. Battle upon battle against the forces of evil in Gotham City. Nodding, he closed his eyes and looked at Donna.

"I'm Batman."


	8. 1955: Superhero Registration Act Pt One

**1955: Superhero Registration Act Part One**

 ** _1955 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Joker stood in the middle of downtown Metropolis as it was surrounded by chaos, flames, and hundreds of assassins from the League of Assassins. He laughed maniacally at the sight of pure horror before him. His boss, Ra's al Ghul, had sent him and an entire army to strike at the heart of the heroes of the world. He wanted them to hurt for their constant interferences in his plan. It was also the initiation for Dark Specter's grand schemes. He was ready to start taking over the universe and he had appointed Ra's al Ghul as the man who was to weaken Earth so that Zordon of Eltar would no longer have any defenses to protect him.

With Joker were other villains of note. They had all been brought into the League of Assassins to form what the world had nicknamed the "Legion of Doom". There were several people involved, and they all had their uses within the organization.

The first was a man known as Reverse Flash. He had been a college student who was obsessed with the superhero known as The Flash. The Flash was able to fully master the Speed Force and used it as a superhero. One day, Reverse Flash had discovered a way to tap into the Speed Force artificially, creating a suit of power that allowed him to mimic The Flash, looking like a copy of Flash's suit in homage of him. During a mission against the League, Reverse Flash had run in to help the group of heroes against the League, but his inexperience had not only caused the League to escape, but also almost cost the life of one of the heroes named Green Lantern. The Flash heavily criticized Reverse Flash for his dangerous actions and, along with other heroes, took the suit from the young man. Driven to rage, the young man recreated the suit with a red and black design before joining the League of Assassins to get revenge, believing it was not the heroes' call to choose who could or could not be super powered.

Magneto was the next man who was an associate of the League of Assassins. He was what was known as a Mutant. A rival group of villains from an organization known as Hydra had one of its scientists discover that there was a latent gene that was unlockable in certain individuals. In an infamous attack during World War I, Hydra had released a chemical agent into the air, those all around the world who had these "latent genes" started seeing themselves getting new powers. The US government wished to collect them all under the tutelage of the former Secretary of Defense, Charles Xavier, so that they could learn to control their powers. One man who gave himself the moniker of Magneto after he discovered he could manipulate metal chose to stand against the government and lead a revolt for the "freedom" of Mutants. He joined the League as a way to help disrupt the status quo, which was Ra's al Ghul's whole purpose for his campaign.

A man poisoned by an experimental drug many years prior took on the name of Deathstrokewhen he and those on a cruise were hijacked on sea. The man behind the hijacking was testing his drug on rich people and holding the cure of the drug until they paid him a ransom. Something in the blood of the man who became Deathstroke did not cause him to become terminally ill, though: he became super powered, but also was infected so that his mind was in a constant state of Rage. He single handedly destroyed the terrorist ring before a hero called Green Arrow could arrive. Blaming the Arrow for not arriving early enough, he vowed to bring the hero down and everyone who he loved with him. Deathstroke was eventually taken in by Ra's al Ghul and turned into a weapon of mass destruction.

Sinestro, Brainiac, and Zod had all become members of the United Alliance of Evil when they officially discarded their disguises as public servants (Zod and Brainiac for Krypton, Sinestro for the Green Lantern Corps) and aided Dark Specter in the destruction of Krypton and the initial attacks on the planet in the center of the universe, Oa. Sinestro had become a Yellow Lantern to not only use his power to thwart the Green Lanterns, but to also help the League by disseminating artificial Fear to those who fought against the League of Assassins, after Dark Specter transferred him to the League.

Brainiac was a former artificial intelligence for Krypton who had become corrupted when former Kryptonian General Zod had convinced him to betray their home planet for the ability to reshape the universe in the way _they_ saw fit, through Dark Specter. Brainiac and Zod, after Brainiac was crafted a body by Deviot, worked on the Dark Fortress with Master Vile to help coordinate the United Alliance of Evil's attacks, but due to the sheer amount of heroes on Earth protecting not only Zordon's Command Center, but also the Greatest Treasure in the Universe, the two were assigned to help Ra's al Ghul.

A former wealthy man once known as Malcolm Merlyn had joined Ra's al Ghul to further his riches by learning to fight expertly. He had learned to, however, love the cause of the League of Assassins to reshape the world as Ra's al Ghul saw fit. Training diligently, he became the third most high ranking general of the League of Assassins, taking on a name showing his marvelous abilities as a marksman: Dark Archer.

The last secret weapon the League of Assassins held came from Dark Specter himself: Red Lantern Rings. After the success of creating a Yellow Lantern Ring for Sinestro, Dark Specter had commissioned his scientists to tap into the Red Lantern Energy Sinestro had smuggled out of Oa and create the Rings of Rage. Certain of the most elite fighters had this secret weapon, to infect the heroes of Earth with Rage as an initial test of its power. Especially since no one knew outside of the League of the existence of the Rings of Rage, Dark Specter and Ra's al Ghul were very confident that they would prove successful.

Looking around, Deathstroke sneered behind his armored mask. "Where are they!? They should have been here by now!"

Magneto nodded. "Yes... Although it only took us a mere hour to bring the great city of Metropolis to the brink of destruction, we should have seen _someone_ by now. Do you think it is some sort of tactic?"

"Of _course_ it's a tactic," Joker replied. "Now the only question is _why_..."

"Perhaps _I_ can answer that question." Said the Red Skull as he teleported onto the scene. "You see, I caught wind of your invasion this morning of Metropolis and decided to _bomb_ the White House. When our lovely heroes arrived to what seemed to be a massive showdown between my agency, Hydra, and them? I teleported them all out and placed a power cage around the entirety of Washington, D.C. Not _one_ of them will be powerful enough to escape!"

Joker began laughing hysterically. "Wait, wait... so you're telling me that you finally defeated those goodie goods!? And let me guess your next trick... You are now going to converge on us with your Hydra agents to wipe us out and take Earth for yourself?"

Red Skull smiled his hideous smile. He was a man who had once been a renowned scientist before the first World War. Being afraid his nation was going to fail during the World War and be taken by their enemies, he tried to reproduce the serum the United States had created for their own Super Soldier to use during the war. Wanting to become a Super Soldier himself, he used it. It was defective, though, disfiguring his body to look the way it did at the current time. Going mad not only due to his appearance, but also due to the pride of having so much power, the scientist decided he would be a new world power against agencies like SHIELD, or the League of Assassins.

"You are correct, Joker," Red Skull said. "And now it is time for my agents to spell your defeat."

All around the sky, what seemed to be a massive fleet of airships appeared from their cloaking shields. As Red Skull laughed, hundreds upon hundreds of trained Hydra agents descended into the city from the sky while hundreds more poured in from the outside of the city. The League of Assassins were surrounded.

From up in one of the airships, the secret funder and secondary leader of Hydra sat and watched the scene from a monitor. His name was Lex Luthor. A genius and leader of his own multi-million dollar organization, he was an open protester of the government's approval and acceptance of super powered beings, such as Superboy when he had first appeared. To get back his confidence that he wouldn't be "obsolete" in the ever advancing world, he offered his services to Red Skull to be able to create super powered beings he could control himself. This greatly helped his lack of confidence, for he truly feared the new super powered people emerging in the world would lead to him losing everything he had worked hard to attain.

The first superpowered experiment Lex had in mind when he joined Hydra was to use the two strongest metals known to man (adamantium and vibranium) and replace a soldier's bone mass with it to make them indestructible, called the Weapon X Project. The first person they had attempted the experiment with was a Mutant named Logan James. With the ability to heal himself, he would be able to survive the process easily. Unfortunately for Lex and Red Skull, Logan escaped their compound before they could brainwash him and he fled to join the Mutant School led by Charles Xavier.

The next two members of Hydra were offshoots of Weapon X: Sabertooth and the Winter Soldier. Sabertooth was a Mutant with extreme amounts of strength, as well as some of the same traits as Logan (heightened faculties and animal-like reflexes). Seeing similarities in their DNA make up, Lex began modifying Sabertooth to slowly gain Logan's healing factors. The project was going well, and Sabertooth was near ready to undergo the treatment to replace his skeleton with the adamantium/vibranium alloy Lex created.

The Winter Soldier, on the other hand, was a project trying to avoid the failures of Project X completely. During World War II a soldier by the name of "Bucky" Barnes, who was best friends with the United States' Super Soldier (Captain America) was nearly fatally injured. Faking his death, Hydra used some sleeper agents to transfer Bucky to their headquarters where Red Skull brainwashed him before replacing his left arm and right leg completely with Lex's special metal alloy, instead of just replacing bone mass. Fighting for Hydra, Winter Soldier was awaiting the finishing touches to Red Skull's experiments to turn him into a soldier completely covered in the alloy.

Obsessed with Superboy, Lex Luthor had been able to take some of his DNA after a battle when Superboy had been punched. He had seen some saliva fly from Superboy's mouth and had experimented on it, trying to map Superboy's genome. Although it was an incomplete mapping, Lex went forward to try and create a clone of Superboy's. The result was a creature so bizarre and pathetic they named it Bizarro. He was extremely powerful and able to take a beating just like Superboy could, while having the benefit of not being weak to Kryptonite. His only downside was that he was dumber than a bag of bricks. The only thing that helped him through battle was his absolute allegiance to Lex Luthor, who guided him in battle using an earpiece.

The next agent of Hydra was a man named Cletus Kasady, but went by the codename of Carnage. After a particular incident involving a spider themed hero and an alien slime that had turned out to be a sentient parasite trying to bond with him, a part of that slime had been recovered from SHIELD by Hydra sleeper agents and given to Red Skull. He and Luthor were able to modify it and turn it into its own living being, bonding it to a lunatic with _dangerous_ tendencies. The merged being named itself Carnage, being one of the deadliest enemies the world had ever known. He had the ability to shift his slime into different, dangerous shapes and could move with dangerous speeds through tight spaces.

The next agent of Hydra with special abilities was known as Juggernaut. He was an experiment by Luthor to see if a suit created to block out the telepathic/telekinetic abilities of those like Professor Charles Xavier. The interesting thing about Juggernaut (outside of his unbelievable speed and strenght) is that he is also the half brother of Professor Xavier, adding an interesting level to the rivalry Juggernaut formed with the leader of the government organized Mutant world.

To compete with those who could tap the Speed Force, Lex Luthor created his own Flash, naming him Flash 2.0. He simply was an agent Lex had picked who was already a fast runner, doing experiments on him until they were able to find a chemical concoction (with some help from Magic) which allowed the agent to tap the Speed Force. The added Magic Flash 2.0 had allowed him to, at times, run faster than the other Speedsters he ran into during his tasks for Hydra.

Bizarro stepped forward, snarling and clenching his fists. "Me am _angry_! Me want to _fight_."

Reverse Flash shook his head in disappointment. "I came prepared for a tough battle. This will be _too_ easy."

Flash 2.0 laughed at the comment. "Seriously? You really think you will be able to keep up with me? Bring it!"

As the two Speedsters zoomed at each other, the rest of the two evil factions converged to battle. Magneto automatically targeted the Winter Soldier, lifting him off the ground and tossing him miles into the distance. Joker put up fisticuffs as Red Skull leapt at him, the leader of Hydra tackling him to the ground. Zod flew down from a building, the photonucleic effect of the yellow sun giving him the same abilities as Bizarro as the two began to wrestle like gods in the middle of everyone around them.

Magneto turned his attention to Juggernaut, he was plowing through assassins as if they weren't there. Juggernaut grunted in anger as he was lifted up into the air.

"Let me go! I'm the Juggernaut!"

Magneto laughed. "I don't think that's going to happen."

Out of the corner of his eye, Magneto saw Carnage shoot several tendrils at him. Smiling, Magneto stretch out his arm to block the tendrils by manipulating the metal on the ground to create a shield for himself. Magneto furrowed his brow as the metal around him not only did not move back, but the tendrils sailed forward and struck him straight in the heart. As they hit him, he dropped Juggernaut to the ground while he himself dropped to his knees.

Carnage ran up to Magneto and laughed. "Sorry old timer. I came prepared. Lex Luthor just shot a beam around you that offset your abilities with some sort of magnetism. Hehe..."

"Ugh..." Magneto choked out before Carnage sank his tendrils deeper into Magneto's chest. He then pulled out and left Magneto on the ground to give up the ghost.

Meanwhile, Reverse Flash zoomed in and out, trying to punch Flash 2.0 at blinding speeds, though the rival Speedster was able to block each blow. From up high on a rooftop nearby, Dark Archer watched as the two continued to collide at speeds unseeable by the Human eye. By the _untrained_ Human eye. Breating out slowly, Dark Archer let go of his arrow and watched it fly down, hitting Flash 2.0 in the shoulder.

"Ach! Impossible!" Flash 2.0 screamed as he crashed to the ground, rolling and creating a trail of cracked concrete as he rolled on.

"Not for me." Dark Archer said, smiling.

"Rargh!" Sabertooth screamed as he landed on the roof behind Dark Archer.

The marksman turned and began to shoot arrow after arrow at Sabertooth. The Mutant caught most of them, but even the ones that hit did not seem to phase him.

"Your puny arrow cannot hurt me!" Sabertooth roared.

"How about _me_ , then?" Deathstroke asked, running in and tackling Sabertooth to the ground. In a rage, he began to punch Sabertooth over and over again.

Sabertooth kicked Deathstroke off of him and laughed. " _Finally_! A _real_ match!"

Standing afar off, Brainiac studied the fight with great care to detail. He could see Zod being punched by Bizarro, sending him flying back and through a building. Brainiac shook his head at the sight.

"Such mindless destruction..." He lamented. He then closed his eyes and sent out a broadcast to the assassins with earpieces. "It is time... activate the Rage."

Sinestro was flying about, shooting several Hydra agents with blasts of Fear. As he heard the announcement from Brainiac, he frowned. He floated higher up into the air to get away from the chaos which was about to begin. As he did, though, he came under fire by one of Lex Luthor's remote controlled machines: the Iron Monger. Unaffected by Fear, Sinestro had no choice but to begin creating weapons made of Yellow Energy. A beam of yellow erupted from his Power Ring, turning into a missile that shot at Iron Monger, leaving nothing but a dent.

"This will be trickier than I thought..." Sinestro said as he began to fly to get away from the machine, hot on his tail.

Returning to the scene, Winter Soldier dived into the fray and began attacking several assassins. As he went to punch one, he shot him with a blast of Red Energy from a Power Ring. Winter Soldier's eyes began to glow red with Rage as he roared in anger.

Brainiac smiled. "Okay, once all of the Hydra agents are infected we'll back off and let them rip each other apart."

"Buck! Stop this right now!" A voice cried out from up in the sky.

As Red Skull blocked a blast of Hyena Spirit from Joker, he turned in the direction of the voice. "Impossible!"

Being dropped down by the superhero known as Falcon, Captain America breathed in deeply as he locked eyes with his rival, Red Skull. "Did you really think we wouldn't figure out a way out of that cage? Come on, Red Skull. I think your old age is starting to get to you."

"Destroy him!" Red Skull screamed as he was hit with Rage from a Red Power Ring. "Destroy _everyone_!"

Captain America ran to Winter Soldier. "Bucky! Please... you have to remember! It's me, Steve!"

With red in his eyes from the Rage, Winter Soldier roared and threw a punch with his enhanced arm. Captain America quickly grabbed his circular shield made of vibranium itself and blocked the punch, staggering back and trying to stay on his feet as the impact rocked him.

"Stop calling me that! There is no Bucky! I am the Winter Soldier!"

Captain America looked around and frowned at the chaos which had occurred during his short imprisonment. The guilt of not having been there to prevent him weighed down on him greatly. Clenching his jaw, he knew there was no reason to dwell in the past, but to only march forward like the loyal soldier he was.

Putting his hand up to his earpiece, he pushed a button to open communications up to those who were in his radio frequency. "Preliminary scouting done. It's _much_ worse than we originally thought. _Much_. We'll need as many people as we can down here. Spread the word to those in D.C. Leave that to the authorities. We have much worse problems here in Metropolis."

The voice of Nick Fury was heard over the comms. "Okay, I will get ahold of the different organizations. You handle _your_ team."

Captain America nodded as he dodged an attack by a Hydra agent, punching him in the back of the neck to incapacitate him. Reaching up once again to his earpiece, he tuned the small dial to the frequency he was looking for.

After some static, a voice was heard from the earpiece. "Hey, Steve. It's Tony. What's the verdict?"

"Avengers: Assemble."

. . .

Donna Wayne, formerly Donna Winslow, walked through her kitchen. It was an early Tuesday morning and she was getting herself breakfast in preparation for her early morning run. She was only a few weeks away from competing in the Boston Marathon and was wanting to make sure she was in pristine shape. Although she was an "enhanced" athlete due to her special artifact, the Starlight Crystal, she knew that her body was the base of her abilities. If she was in great shape _without_ the crystal, then she would be in even better shape _with_ the crystal.

"Mrs. Wayne?" Her butler asked as he discovered her scavenging in the kitchen. "Oh, dear my good miss! This is my job. You should allow me to make you breakfast."

Chuckling, Donna shook her head. "Don't be silly, Alfred. I'm not an invalid. I can get myself breakfast!"

"But I'm your butler, Mrs. Wayne." Alfred insisted as he rushed to the stove to begin making her an omelette.

Donna rolled her eyes at that. "You take your cover all too seriously. You're Bruce's _handler_."

Alfred sighed. "Even though I was assigned to be his secret bodyguard after his parents passed on, I have come to love Master Bruce... I have also come to love my position in his life. It feels good to be of service to him. He is a good, good man."

"He's also _Batman_." Donna replied, smiling. "There's no reason, Alfred! Please... I know I say this to you all the time, but it's because I _care_ about you. Please go on and live your life!"

Smiling with what seemed like infinite years of wisdom, he looked at Donna and said, "Mrs. Wayne. I never told you this, but I hate working for the CIA. I was one of their best agents. If I go back to them, I'll be running around doing missions for them once again. I'm _tired_ , Mrs. Wayne. I don't want to go back to that life. Now, the government saw Bruce as being one of the most powerful men in the world. Something the Master doesn't know, and I ask for you to never divulge to him, is that we determined that Bruce's parents' incident was premeditated... Someone was trying to take out the Wayne family and Master Bruce was lucky that Pai Zhua Master, Swoop, was able to save him before he was gunned down as well."

Donna was shocked. "Oh, Alfred! Bruce _needs_ to know this!"

Alfred shook his head. "No, he doesn't. You know how he gets. He became the Batman as a way to get vengeance on the forces of evil here in Gotham. If he knew people had _targeted_ his family-"

"I'd do all I could to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice." Bruce said as he rounded a corner. He looked very serious. "Alfred... I never knew this was in the scopes of the CIA. I thought only _I_ had come to this conclusion..."

Alfred stared at the man who he had helped raise. "Oh, Master Bruce. I... I know how _obsessive_ you can be. I didn't know you had already begun looking into it."

Sighing, Bruce entered the kitchen. "It's been a few years. I looked into the case because I had noticed something I wasn't sure about a _different_ case. The location, time, method... Those who were arrested, as well. They all point back to one man: the Red Hood."

Alfred nodded. "Yes, Master Bruce. That is who we come to as well. Have you found anything about him? He was never caught."

"I've also hit a dead end." Bruce said, frowning. "Every now and then I go back to my investigations but I have yet to find anything. But Alfred? I'm sorely disappointed in you. I thought I could _trust_ you. How _dare_ you keep this from me?"

"No harm, though, Master Bruce," Alfred replied. "I wasn't withholding anything you didn't already know."

Bruce scoffed. "That's not what was in your _heart_ , Alfred. I... I need trust here. Please see yourself out."

"Bruce!" Donna protested.

"Isn't this what you wanted, anyway?" Bruce asked. "For him to no longer be bound to our family as a mere butler?"

"I'm no more bound to this calling in life as a dog without a leash is to its master. Bruce? I love it here. It's calm and relaxing. The government fears for you and whatever force is still at work trying to get to you and your family's resources," Alfred said.

Bruce furrowed his brow. " _Still_? What do you mean!?"

Alfred sighed. "I was never reassigned because we have evidence that there is still some sort of planning going on to get rid of you and your company, Wayne Enterprises."

"Why!?" Bruce demanded. "And why have you never told me!?"

"I was following orders, Master Bruce," Alfred said simply. "And like I said before: I know how obsessive you can be... The people need both Bruce Wayne and Batman to not be distracted by such things. Me and my people are doing what we can on that front."

"Leave now, Alfred. I... I don't know when this sabbatical for you will end. I need some time," Bruce said.

"Bruce, this isn't fair..." Donna demanded.

"What's not fair is having a man I saw... _see_ as family keeping secrets from me. I have _never_ kept _anything_ from you. Now please, Alfred. Take some time away from here. I will call you when and _if_ you may return," Bruce said.

"As you wish, Master Bruce..." Alfred said sadly. As he turned to leave the kitchen, he was shocked to see Dick Grayson running into the kitchen.

"Master Dick... what is it?" Alfred asked seriously, seeing how stunned Dick seemed.

Dick was breathing hard as he looked at everyone in the room. "Bruce! You _can't_ keep your comms off!"

Bruce furrowed his brow. "I already told everyone: my time in the morning with my family is _sacred_ to me. You guys couldn't wait until 8am? It's only ninety minutes from now."

"This isn't about some business meeting!" Dick said angrily. He pulled out a small device from his pocket and placed it on the counter. " _Look_!"

Bruce, Alfred, and Donna huddled around the counter to see a hologram appear, showing devastating news: an attack had occurred at the White House by Hydra. Red Skull and his minions were currently trying to find the President of the United States after they had found out he had survived the initial attack.

Breathing in deeply, Bruce looked to Donna. "Stay here. Activate the security. Alfred? We'll finish what we started later. Stay here and ensure everything stays safe. Dick? Are your guys already on their way?"

Dick nodded. "Yes. The Teen Titans are en route. I left them to get you. The rest of the Justice League are probably already there."

"Alright, then." Bruce said as he looked to his protege. "To the Batcave."

. . .

The man known as Clark Kent stood with his wife, Lois Lane, as they stared in horror as the Hydra ships began flying overhead. They were blasting at the White House as hundreds of people rushed away in a panic. Lois and Clark had been there on business for the newspaper for which they worked. They had an appointment with the President for later that afternoon, but they were fairly certain that was no longer going to pan out.

Lois looked to her husband with worry in her eyes. "Do you think _Superman_ may find a way to show his face here?"

Clark pursed his lips as he ran alongside Lois. "I'm sure as soon as he can get his _loved ones_ out of harm's way he will."

Lois shook her head. "I'm fairly certain Superman would know anyone he loved would be able to handle _herself_. That's not saying the same for those who may be needing his help."

Clark nodded, knowing she was right. Letting himself get lost in the crowd, he ducked into a telephone booth and waited a moment. When he was sure he was to be safe, he used his decent tap with the power of the universe increasing speed (called the Speed Force) and changed out of his suit and tie into his red and blue outfit to become Superman.

Superman had been known as Super _boy_ (a young boy who was one of the last of his homeworld of Krypton) up until about two years prior to the Hydra attack on Washington, D.C. During a battle with a notorious villain by the name of Cobalt Blue, while helping The Flash, Superboy had been hit with an extraordinary amount of Time Magic from the Speed Force. It had begun to age him. Only with the help of some Magic from the Oracle (the leader of the magical dimension on Earth known as the Magic Realm) mixed with Superboy's weakness of _Kryptonite_ (pieces of his home planet, irradiated by the yellow sun but with a mixture of red solar energy that crippled the Man of Steel) was the aging process stopped.

Although looking older, Superboy decided to don the name of Superman (officially) and use the opportunity of looking older to establish a _secret identity_ in the guise of his Earthly birth name, Clark Kent. Leaving his old life behind in Smallville, he had moved to the big city of Metropolis and had become a reporter to ensure he could keep his sights close to not only news of evil, but to be able to manipulate the news if his identity was ever compromised. During his adventures he had become close with a talented reporter known as Lois Lane. After a difficult courtship they had married and in doing so Ms. Lane had learned how difficult Clark's life could get with his dual identities.

As Clark raced ahead, he saw members of the group to which he belonged, the Justice League of America, rushing into battle. They were a group formed by Batman a few years prior, when the League of Assassins had begun to make a lot of damage in the world. A group of heroes known as the Avengers (endorsed and basically controlled by the government agency known as SHIELD) had tried to confront the League, but soon saw they were outmatched. To help, Batman formed the JLA our of heroes who refused to work for SHIELD. The new force they had become was a swift tide against the forces of evil.

The JLA was made up of a few _diverse_ characters: Wonder Woman, a princess from a secret colony in the Amazon Jungle. The colony was made up of beings who descended from the High Ones who had survived the destruction of Atlantis ten thousand years earlier. When Ra's al Ghul had become a serious threat, the colony sent out Wonder Woman to be its champion to help stop the League. She had met up with Superman and Batman during an encounter against the Joker and bonded with them, joining their Justice League.

Cyborg was the next member. He was a man rescued from terrible experiments done to him by Hydra which were meant to enhance him. Outside of his colossal strength and endurance, he also had the ability to hack computer equipment and "communicate" with technology.

Hal Jordan had received the power to become the Green Lantern from Abin Sur twenty years prior. Being one of the last surviving Green Lanterns, he had been taken under wing by Zordon of Eltar to learn how to use the Power Ring and to stay in contact with Oa as they tried to rebuild after almost losing their planet against Dark Specter and his secret weapon: Sinestro, the Yellow Lantern of Fear.

The Scarlet Speedster was the JLA's resident user of the Speed Force. Although Superman was able to tap into the Speed Force himself, he was nowhere near as efficient at it as Scarlet Speedster was. His name was Wally West. He was a scientist who had been attempting to help the former Speedster for the JLA against the Reverse Flash. During a particularly harsh fight, Wally had a reaction occur between his tech and Reverse Flash's suit, giving him access to the Speed Force. After the previous Speedster had left the JLA, Wally was brought up to be an official member (after a few stints of solo crime fighting).

Another descendant of the High Ones, Aquaman was the member of the JLA who had control over water. He lived in the fallen city of Atlantis itself, where his father Neptune (formerly known as Poseidon. He had his name changed out of shame that he allowed Atlantis to fall, so as to not have anyone remember him as the man who was not leader enough to protect Atlantis) had been living with some other High Ones in Atlantis to defend artifacts for a being known as Sentinel Knight. Fearing the artifacts (Gems of a powerful crown known as the Corona Aurora) would fall into the hands of either Red Skull or Ra's al Ghul, Neptune sent his son Arthur to fight against them. He was given the nickname "Aquaman" when he first appeared in the public eye and soon thereafter was recruited into the Justice League.

The last member of the JLA was a man known only as Carter, though his superhero identity was a household name: Hawkman. He (and his wife) were former Pai Zhua Masters who had come into contact with the League of Assassins when they had first splintered off from the Order of the Claw. During the encounter trying to defend some Cubs, both Carter and his wife tried using their Animal Spirits (both of the Hawk) against Ra's al Ghul himself but were blocked by the Demon Head's powerful Demon Spirit. They were thrown into one of the League of Assassin's Youth Pits where their Hawk Spirit, the Demon Spirit, and the chemicals in the Youth Pit mixed in them and gave their own inner Spirits the ability to be reincarnated, but having them lose their memories each time. Carter had recently regained the entirety of his memories after living his life as a vagrant and joined the fight against evil as Hawkman. Although his wife had also joined the fight against evil, she could not remember Carter and refused to join the JLA, to stay away from him. She could not bring herself to love a man she could not remember, and kept her distance to protect Hawkman from being hurt further by her inability to love him.

"Yah!" Wonder Woman yelled as she swung a mighty fist and clobbered a Hydra Agent. She was leading the way to the White House (or what remained of it) as she was third in command behind Superman and Batman (the latter being the leader). She was ensuring the civilians were safe before she and the others rushed to find the President.

"C'mon over here, punk!" Hawkman screamed as he soared through the air, his Hawk Spirit causing wings to appear on his back to allow him to fly. He swung a mighty hammer and hit the Hydra agent hard over the head.

"Nice to see you, Kal." Green Lantern said as he shot Green Energy at an agent, throwing him up into the air to be hit by Superman midair.

"Sure is!" Scarlet Speedster said as he raced about, pulling down the pants of many Hydra agents around him. "There's someone running around here depanting people!"

Superman fought the urge to smile. "We have to be serious. The President could be in serious danger."

"The civilians are more important," A heavy voice said from nearby. "You have more firepower and need to stay in the frontlines. My people will go and see if we can find the President."

Superman turned and saw one of the leaders of the JLA's own splinter group standing on a roof. It was the Green Arrow.

"Are you sure, Oliver?" Superman asked, worried. "I'm certain Hydra's enhance fighters will be there waiting for you..."

"If you guys go, my team won't be able to corral everyone here or the agents. You guys can handle their sheer number. We'll be okay in tight spaces. Trust me." Arrow said as he pulled out an arrow and shot it to another building. A rope was attached to it, to allow Arrow to use it to slide on it to the next building.

"Makes sense. Good luck, Oliver." Superman said as he turned and went to help the Justice League of America.

"You, too, Clark." Green Arrow said as he sped down the zip line.

Meanwhile, in the streets, Scarlet Speedster was surprised to find someone running beside him. It was The Flash.

"Hey, Barry!" Scarlet yelled. "Your help will be greatly needed!"

Flash nodded. "I figured, Wally. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be coming back to help you out. I'm helping to the White House to see if I can find the POTUS."

"Okay, man. See ya soon!" Scarlet said as Flash whizzed past him.

Flash and Arrow were the leaders of a splinter group of the JLA called the Justice Society of America. It had been created to help spread the heroes out to cover more of the Americas. While the JLA focused on North America, the JSA tended to look more below the Texas border.

After The Flash had gotten the idea to form the JSA, his first recruit was a millionaire from a city near his who had been working as a ruthless vigilante to protect his city from mobs and gangs. After a rocky start, the two became friends and Arrow had been able to learn to curb his _harsh_ tactics to ones more humane.

The next recruit was a woman by the name of Black Canary. A former member of the League of Assassins, she had the Animal Spirit of the Canary and used it to not only fight in battle, but to also emit a high pitched yell from her throat which could shatter glass and cause ears to bleed. She and Green Arrow were also on again, off again love interests to each other.

A former business rival to both Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Ray Palmer donned a technical suit onto himself to become the hero known as the ATOM. Outside of flight and lasers, he was also able to minimize himself using nanites to be able to infiltrate most strongholds.

The next member of the JSA was a hero who called himself Vibe. He was formerly a scientist working alongside Barry Allen by the name of Cisco Ramon. While trying to figure out how the Speed Force worked, an experiment went awry and caused both Black Matter from outside of Universe M54331Z-B and Speed Force to enter into his cells. Gaining the ability to vibrate himself to be undetected by security cameras, he was instantly recruited by Barry into the JSA. They later discovered he could send vibrations that disrupted the Speed Force itself, outside of also being able to sense breaches of beings from outside of the universe into Universe M54331Z-B. He had also become close friends with a scientist from the Magic Realm known as Daggeron, who was learning the science behind traveling from realm to realm.

The final member of the JSA was Hawkgirl. The former wife in a previous life to Carter (Hawkman), she was eventually brought into the JSA by Barry Allen to help against the League of Assassins due to her training as a Pai Zhua Master. Her muscle memory being the only thing she had from her previous life and wanting to contribute, she joined.

Seeing Hawkgirl flying to the White House, Hawkman felt his heart in pain. He longed to be with the love of his life once again. Seeing her once again, and so close to him, was painful. A part of him was grateful for her decision to not join the JSA, but a larger part was too hurt by her decision to let the sensible part of him have too much sway in his feelings. Clenching his jaw, he flew down and continued to fight, hoping to meet with her after the fighting.

At the White House, Flash was the first to arrive from the JSA. He was surprised to see someone else there already, though: Impulse, the Speedster from the Teen Titan Initiative. Impulse was looking around, concern on his face as his eyes scanned the rubble of the White House.

The Teen Titans were a group of younger heroes who had at one point or another been "sidekicks" to other heroes. The first of these young heroes and their leaders was Dick Grayson, who had once been known as Robin under Batman's tutelage. He had gotten into one argument too many with his mentor and had decided to go off on his own, becoming a hero by the name of Nightwing. Earning the nickname in the media as America's "Teen Titan", Nightwing took the name to be one for his own group. At times not seeing eye to eye with both the JSA and JLA, the Teen Titans were kept under a tight leash to not get into too much trouble.

Impulse had been the first Teen Titan after Nightwing. His real name was Bart Allen, and he was Barry Allen's son. Although technically only five years old, he grew (and learned) at an accelerated rate. Luckily scientists at SHIELD had been able to slow his aging down before he got too old. They predicted he would age normally after their treatments.

"Bart?" Flash asked, looking his son over. "Find anything?"

"Nothing yet, sorry Dad." Impulse said as he folded his arms. "The others should be here soon."

" _All_ of the Teen Titans aren't here, are they?" Flash asked, concerned. "Although this is a big event, that isn't tactically sound."

Impulse shrugged. "When Batman himself tells you to be somewhere, you go."

"Bruce really called you guys? Hunh..." Flash wondered aloud as he began to go through the rubble.

The rest of the Teen Titans arrived: Batgirl, a teen who decided to help Batman but was never officially taken in by him because he knew she was the commissioner's daughter, for who he didn't want to take responsibility; Arsenal, Green Arrow's student; Robin, who was Batman's most recent partner before Batman asked him to go to the Teen Titans. Batman did not feel the Titans were organized enough and felt Robin would be able to help them in that regard; Spider-Girl, a girl who was captured by the League of Assassins and trained to become a web slinger to help against another web slinger who had been interfering with the League, though she had been able to secretly withstand their brainwashing tactics before escaping to join the Teen Titans.

The final member of the Teen Titans was the original web slinger, a boy who had been bitten by a radioactive spider that caused his latent Spider Spirit to be unleashed in him. He was known as Spider-Man and was the most popular of the Titans in the media due to his personality.

*Shwwt*

Flash and Impulse spun around to see a Hydra agent get tangled up in some webbing as she had attempted to shoot at the two Speedsters. Swinging in, Spider-Man landed on the woman.

"Sheesh. For how fast you guys are, you'd had thought you'd be faster on the uptake," Spider-Man joked. "You can thank me with chocolates."

Robin rushed in right afterward, sighing and groaning. "Ugh... Juggernaut is on the other side and-"

"On it!" Flash said as he zoomed away.

"Hey! Wait up!" Impulse cried out, running after Flash.

Spider-Man then looked to Robin. "First one to catch up to them has the other guy buy him breakfast tomorrow."

Robin smiled. "You're on!"

Getting to the other side of the destruction, Flash saw the JSA and Teen Titans battling against Juggernaut and Winter Soldier. Flash clenched his jaw and sped forward to knock out Winder Soldier.

"Dad, no! Wait! It's-" Impulse tried to warn his dad. The Titans had recently encountered Juggernaut at another incident and Impulse had discovered Juggernaut had improved his reaction time _considerably_. He watched as Flash jumped to hit Juggernaut, but the villain grabbed him out of the air and tossed him to the side.

"Yaaaah!" Black Canary cried out. As she did, a crack was seen in Juggernaut's helmet.

"Argh! Dirty witch!" Juggernaut screamed.

"No, _I'm_ the witch." Scarlet Witch said as she ran up to Juggernaut and blasted him with a mighty dose of Red Magic. She was one of the heroes from SHIELD's Avengers.

She was a hero who had learned how to use Magic and had reached levels of Red Magic no one else had. She was nearly good enough to be able to tap Nathadian Magic (but not _quite_ ). Her brother was also an Avenger: another Magician who had been able to find a loophole in Magic to access Time Magic without Nathadian Magic by borrowing Magic from his sister while compensating for the lack of Red Magic by mixing Blue Magic with Blue Emotional Energy. The power of Hope had been a secret he kept so no one else would try to kidnap his sister to replicate his results. He called himself Quicksilver.

"Hey, _Flash_!" Quicksilver said as he ran in. "Vortex?"

"Count me in!" Yelled Impulse.

"Me, too." Said Scarlet Speedster as he joined the ruckus.

The senior speedster amongst the group smiled. "Let's do it."

Running around as fast as they could, they created a vortex from their speed around Juggernaut. Try as he may, he could not reach out and grab any of the heroes. He did not know that Scarlet Witch had affected his mind and that her Red Magic was disorienting him.

"Yagh!" Juggernaut yelled as the air around him began to get sucked out via the vortex.

"Huh!?" Quicksilver gasped as Juggernaut disappeared.

"Drat!" Yelled the Scarlet Speedster. "He got teleported away!"

"We found the president, everyone." The leader of the Avengers, Captain America, stated as he made his way to the group, the rest of the Avengers following close behind.

During World War I, the United States got together with a renowned doctor named Bruce Banner to create something which was later dubbed the Super Soldier Serum. They used the serum on a young, valiant man named Steve Rogers to create Captain America, the nation's powerhouse.

Dr. Banner, himself, attempted to improve upon the serum with gamma radiation. During an attack by Hydra on his base, he injected himself with the serum. It created a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde syndrome in him. Whenever he got angry (or extremely emotional) he would become a massive green skinned humanoid known in the media as the Incredible Hulk. At his core he was a good man, and was able to direct his rage at the enemy (though he was still uncontrollable to a degree). This caused his presence in the Avengers to be a sort of double edged sword.

Second in command of the Avengers was Tony Stark, who went by the name Iron Man. Son of tech genius and millionaire playboy Howard Stark, Tony inherited all of his father's persona. He was arrogant, boastful, and a genius. Using his suit of armor that he created to be more than just the brains behind the Avengers, he used his status to become the Avengers' publicity boy and tabloid magnet. Parties were his thing and everyone knew it. After joining the Avengers full time he replaced himself as the team's eyes and ears with an artificial intelligence known as Jarvis, though that lasted only a short tenure.

The next Avenger was a Cyborg by the name of Vision, into whom Jarvis had been uploaded. When Brainiac had first arrived on Earth, he had been tasked by Dark Specter to attack the planet in a way that Dark Specter could hold it ransom over Zordon, to force the Eltarian to give up not only his various research artifacts hidden in Angel Grove's "abandoned warehouse district", but also the ability to get the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. Brainiac attempted to rip a city out of the planet and throw it back toward the planet as if it were a massive comet, but he had been thwarted when the Avengers (with help from Superboy) had stopped him. Brainiac afterward had attempted to create a new, organic body for himself to battle the Avengers but was stopped once again. To ensure Brainiac could not upload his consciousness, Tony uploaded Jarvis into the body instead. With the ability to fly, shoot beams of power from a mysterious jewel on his head, and use super strength (outside of his vast intelligence and ability to hack into computer networks), he was a valuable asset to the Avengers.

The final member of the Avengers was its second recruit after Captain America. He was Auric the Conquerer, formerly known as Killian from the Nathadian Universe. If anyone could match the stalwart nature of Captain America, it was Auric. He helped the team as one bound to help the innocent. SHIELD tried time and time again to be able to figure out more about Auric, but their searches came out without fruit. They had no idea the trial Killian was going through to atone for his own perceived sins.

Vibe smiled as he saw the Avengers walk in. "Glad to hear the prez is okay!"

"Any sign of more of Hydra's agents? I think they may have been looking for something besides the president," Captain America said.

"Yeah. We ran into Flash 2.0 back there trying to get the POTUS," Iron Man further explained. "If Hydra knew where he was, why send Juggernaut over here? There's something else going on..."

"I am sorry you had to deal with my brother," Professor Charles Xavier said as he appeared through the rubble. His team of Mutants followed behind him.

"Huh? What're the X-Men doing here?" Spider-Girl asked, shrugging. She, Spider-Man, and Robin had appeared a little bit before Juggernaut had been teleported out (with Spider-Man winning the bet against Robin).

The X-Men were Professor Xavier's elite team of Mutants from his academy, where he was helping people come to terms with finding out they were Mutants. After Logan James had escaped Hydra and revealed that they were beginning to experiment on Mutants, Xavier got his strongest Mutants together to form a team that could not only help in the fight against evil, but also stand as a shining star to all Mutants.

The Mutants in the X-Men were Wolverine (Logan James), with a powerful frame "donated" by Hydra, animal-like senses, and incredible strength; Cyclops, with the power to shoot high powered laser blasts from his eyes; Jean Grey, who Xavier believed had the potential of being the most powerful telekinetic/telepathic being on the planet; Iceman, with the ability to freeze any liquid and also manipulate the ice created; Beast, a former scientist who gained extreme strength and acrobatic abilities, but with the cost of his "normal" Human appearance, growing extremely muscular and covered in blue fur; a man from the southern bayou who called himself Gambit, with the power to charge any object he could touch with Spirit Energy and cause it to explode after launching it at a target; and Rogue, a Mutant who could not touch anyone without draining them of their lifeforce. At times she could even absorb their powers and use them herself.

"We received a message from Batman telling us to be here." Wolverine said, causing three metal dagger-like protrusions to burst from the backs of both his hands.

Cyclops nodded. "We weren't sure if we were needed here when we heard the news this morning, but when Batman called us we knew we had to come."

"Same with us!" Yelled Captain Britain as he and his team from the Britain Corps joined the JSA, Teen Titans, and X-Men. "Batman called us here to help. We couldn't leave an ally in peril like this."

Spider-Man nodded. "I agree. I mean, if the Queen of England lost her dentures, you know we'd be there in a heartbeat to find 'em for you."

The second in command of the Britain Corps, Spider UK, swung in and landed beside Spider-Man. "That's in bad taste, chap. You playboy Americans sure need to learn some respect."

To mimic the United States and their idea behind a Super Soldier, Britain developed their own version of the Super Soldier Serum after Red Skull emerged during World War I and created Captain Britain to defend the United Kingdom. After Spider-Man and Spider-Girl had become a real threat to the forces of evil, Captain Britain led a scientific journey into creating an altered Serum that could mimic Spider-Man's powers. The result was Spider UK.

There were two other members of what became the Britain Corps beside Spider UK and Captain Britain. They were Green Battery and Black Panther. Green Battery was a member of the Green Lantern Corps named Alan Scott. Hal Jordan had been, in his spare time, recruiting new members to replace those slain by Sinestro and Alan Scott was one of those people. Black Panther was the king of an African territory owned by the United Kingdom known as Wakanda. After a mysterious illness began spreading through the animals of Africa, the king of Wakanda discovered it was caused by the League of Assassins and created his own version of martial arts based on Animal Spirits, becoming the hero known as Black Panther.

"What does Batman know that we don't!?" ATOM demanded as he looked around the group of heroes. "I can't figure out why he would need _all_ of us."

"I _don't,_ " Batman said darkly as he, Nightwing, and the JLA entered the scene. "I didn't call _any_ of you here."

Arsenal furrowed his brow. "And you, Dick? Didn't you call us here?"

"Yeah, I did. I figured we could help the JLA," Nightwing said. "I wouldn't have had I known the JSA would be here, though."

"We must leave here _now_." Vision said, frowning. "This has to be some sort of a _trap_!"

Superman laughed an ironic laugh. "Vision is right, but it's too late. The city seems to be surrounded by some sort of force field. I... I can _feel_ Kryptonite laced all through it!"

Cyborg turned on his scanners and nodded. "He's right. We're surrounded."

Iron Man laughed. "I'll take care of this."

As Iron Man blasted off and up into the sky, ATOM grinned. "Wait up, fly boy."

As the two iron suited millionaires raced up to the top, they looked each other up and down. Although Ray Palmer was no longer rivals with Oliver Queen or Bruce Wayne, he was actively engaged in power plays to take Stark Enterprises down, since they were his main tech competitor.

"Race ya to the top." Iron Man said as he blasted up ahead.

"You're on." ATOM accepted, zooming after him.

On the ground, Superman shook his head. "That won't end well..."

A few seconds later, a loud crash could be heard. A few moments later the two men came back, humbled. They thought they could blast through the shield, but found they had no luck.

"Are you two done?" Wonder Woman asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Good. Now we gotta figure this out..."

"I got an idea!" Batgirl said. "Hey, Hulk! Betty's outside the city waiting for you! Right over there!"

"Hulk _love_ Betty!" The massive beast said, lunging to get to the outskirts of the city.

The heroes watched as Hulk hit the force field as if he were a bird flying into glass. In rage, he began pounding on the shield as hard as he could. The madder he got, the stronger he got. The stronger he got, the more unstable he was.

"While he hacks away at the shield, any other ideas?" Captain America asked, clearly upset.

"I'm trying to get a hold of my team at STAR Labs," The Flash said. "My connection is off and on. I can't get a clear signal..."

"I'm getting a clear signal from SHIELD. That's odd... I wonder why you aren't," Vision said. "I sense no reason for you to be getting blocked."

"Anything from SHIELD then, Jarvis?" Quicksilver asked, folding his arms.

Vision frowned. "Yes. They are trying to break through the field of power, but they say something horrible has happened. Metropolis is under attack by the League of Assassins. They also say Hydra was behind this imprisonment."

"They're working together!?" Aquaman asked, worried.

"No... SHIELD reports that it seems as if Hydra is going to _fight_ the League. Black Widow is reporting legions of Hydra agents gathering around Metropolis, ready to storm the League," Vision further reported.

"No!" Superman yelled. "No! Not like this! I _must_ save my city! I can't let Metropolis fall like this!"

Batman nodded. "We'll find a way out Clark. We always do."

Captain America frowned. "I have no doubt of that, either. I just hope we can get out _in time_."

. . .

Lex Luthor laughed as he watched the force field surround Washington, DC. "It actually worked. Creating that computer image of Batman and sending that message to the different heroes got them all in one place! They are out of our way."

From the ship they were in, Red Skull nodded. "Phase one complete. Now it's time for the next phase..."

Lex smiled. "Oh, yes. Now it's time to pay the League of Assassins a little _visit_."

. . .

 _ **Two Hours Later...**_

Hawkman sighed. "Still nothing?"

Beast nodded. "It is a curious matrix of power. I can't make heads or tails of it."

"Neither can anyone on the outside. Hydra sure did outdo themselves with this one," Vibe said. "I can't even shockwave through it."

Superman frowned. "I'm certain Luthor was behind this. He's been studying us for too long. It _has_ to be his research that created this prison."

Wolverine scoffed. "You still think Luthor is Hydra huh, bub? Time after time you've tried to prove he was a bad guy but you've come up empty handed every time."

"I know, but... there's just something about him I can't trust," Superman said.

"Well, until I myself see evidence saying otherwise, I'm still counting Luthor as an ally," Flash said. "He's helped STAR Labs with a lot of our tech."

"One more time, Scott," Green Lantern said.

Green Battery pointed his Power Ring at the shield. "Okay... go!"

Batman stared on as the Green Energy erupted from their rings. He sighed as it, yet again, did not work. He turned and found Cyborg scanning the force field himself.

"Has Zordon gotten back to you?" Batman asked.

Cyborg shook his head. "Yes. He said the Magic Realm is still looking into it."

"We have to-" Batman started. Before he could finish, a loud crackle was heard and the force field vanished.

"Huh!?" Black Canary said, looking around. "Are we safe to go!?"

"SHIELD said it wasn't them. The power field just... is gone," Vision said, wary of what the development meant.

"Zordon also cannot figure out why it vanished," Cyborg reported.

"Steve?" Batman said to Captain America. "We'll stay here. In case Hydra is trying to trick us into leaving. Could you go and investigate?"

Captain America nodded. "Yeah. Good plan. This is Cap to base. Fury? I need immediate transport to Metropolis. I'm going in alone to scout ahead in case DC is still a target."

On the line, Nick Fury replied. "Sounds good. I'll send Falcon with you, though, so you can be teleported out of the city. Hydra seems to have set up some sort of parameter and we can't teleport you right in. I'll get you as close as I can and Falcon can fly you in."

"Sounds good." Captain America said as he was teleported to the outskirts of Metropolis.

"May the Power protect you..." Batman said as he he turned and saw Vibe staring off into the distance, confusion on his face.

"What's wrong, Cisco?" Batman asked.

"I dunno... It's just that... I felt something very weird right before the force field vanish. It kinda felt like the Speed Force but... _different,_ " Vibe answered. "It was very powerful. It also felt _wrong_."

Batman frowned. "How sure are you? Have you ever been wrong?"

Vibe shook his head. "Not about something like this. I know _something_ is involved here, but _what_ is where I'm hitting a wall, Bruce. I'm worried it may be what brought the shield down."

"Wouldn't it be a friend if it brought the shield down?" Batman asked.

"Something tells me not," Vibe said. "This power feels _dark_. I can't describe it. Like... like the opposite of joy or something..."

"It's Black Energy." Auric said seriously, stepping forward. "It's a very dangerous power, young man. What you described is the power of Death itself."

Batman sneered. "Then we need to all stay on the balls of our feet. Stay vigilant. If this being was able to take down a power that the combined efforts of the Justice League, Justice Society, Avengers, Teen Titans, Britain Corps, _and_ X-Men could not... then we may have more to worry about than the warring between the League of Assassins and Hydra..."

. . .

 _ **2050 - The Hall of Legends**_

At that the man indexing that moment in history, Sam the Future: Omega Ranger, rewound his record from the file obtained by Rip Hunter (a man from a branch of Time Force called the Linear Men) to the moment when the force field had collapsed. He watched in awe as he slowed the file down to see what looked like a bolt of red lightning race all around the dome containing Washington, DC and trapping the superheroes. Even slowed down, the bolt moved rather quickly. Future: Omega Ranger followed the bolt as the force field dome collapsed. It raced away from the dome and stopped a few miles away from the capital city.

Omega watched as the figure that was in the lightning stood, smiling to himself. He had glowing red eyes and wore a suit similar to The Flash, but it's colors were all swapped: the red was yellow, the yellow was red, and the insignia had black surrounding its lightning bolt.

The Man in Yellow laughed as he continued to watch the city. _Nice try, Hydra. Certainly you would have been able to buy enough time to either defeat or be defeated by the League of Assassins. Unfortunately for you, those aren't a part of_ _my_ _plans. I_ _need_ _these super beings to be active. But I must admit I'm glad for Hydra, because I was having a hard time getting my pieces all together. Now that they_ _will be_ _all together, though, my rise to godhood will finally begin!_

And with that, the Man in Yellow turned and sprinted away. He was faster than anyone Omega had ever seen. He was running toward Metropolis, ready to have his plans come to life. Ready to end the lives of everyone in existence.


	9. 1955: Superhero Registration Act Pt Two

**1955: Superhero Registration Act Part Two**

 ** _1955 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Batman ran into the city as Hydra agents were roaring with Rage as they attempted to destroy anything in their path. What Batman noticed was how they were attacking not only members of the League of Assassins or other heroes who had arrived before him, but also _other Hydra agents_.

"Cyborg!? Scan _now_!" Batman yelled into his mouthpiece on the inside of his cowl.

"A little more specific, _please_." Cyborg answered as he blocked a punch from Juggernaut.

"Hydra agents. They're fighting anything that _moves_. I think they may be affected by something." Batman said as he found himself face to face with Dark Archer.

"Scanning now! Oof!" Cyborg answered as Deathstroke tackled him from behind.

"No need for a scan." Green Lantern said as he looked down. "I can _feel_ it. It's Red Energy. They seem to be coming from the assassins."

"He's right. I can see it!" Superman said as he flew down and knocked out a group of assassins. He bent over and looked at the hand of one of the assassins. "Some of them are wearing _Red Lantern Rings_."

"Fools!" Green Lantern sneered as he shot at Sabertooth with a beam of concentrated Green Energy. "Red Energy is too dangerous! It'll not only infect the Hydra agents but _everyone else_!"

"You're right!" Hawkman yelled as he carried Aquaman threw the air. "I can see Red Skull right now and he is attacking not only Joker, but _his own men_!"

"Drop me down! I can handle him!" Aquaman shouted. Hawkman did as Aquaman asked and landed a mere four feet from Joker.

"Hey! Red Skull! Yah!" Aquaman shouted as he took moisture from the air and gathered it to form a spear. He then shot it as fast as he could at Red Skull. It went through his shoulder.

"You will _pay_ , you ridiculous fish man!" Red Skull roared as he turned to face Aquaman. His eyes were as red as the skin on his head as he lunged forward and began beating Aquaman, throwing his fists violently to pummel Aquaman's head.

"Ew..." Joker said as he started backing away slowly, disgusted by the bloody beating Aquaman was getting from the Rage infused Red Skull. "I think I'll leave you two to sort things out."

The only thing Aquaman could see was brief glimpses of Red Skull in between each hit, which brought stars to his line of vision. He was so out of it that he couldn't coordinate his hands to block any of the hits.

 _I'm like a fish out of water!_ Aquaman thought as the pain began to grow numb from the massacre occurring to him. _I need to find some water to command!_

Suddenly feeling the presence of water nearby, Aquaman commanded it to attack Red Skull. As he did so, he suddenly felt the attacks stop.  
Limping onto his knees as he rolled to his side, he opened the one eye that was completely swollen shut to see blood dripping out of Red Skull's mouth.

"What are you doing to me!?" Red Skull demanded.

Aquaman stared in confusion as Red Skull stood in place, unmoving. Calling for another attack, he saw more blood spurt out of Red Skull's mouth. At that, it suddenly dawned on him: he was controlling the water in Red Skull's body. He had inadvertently discovered the art of Bloodbending.

"Let go of me!" Red Skull demanded.

Aquaman looked around him. He saw Metropolis in ruin. He remembered Washington, DC and how it had been devastated by Hydra. He thought of how many people had lost their lives due to the pursuits of the villains, Red Skull being one of the most diabolical.

"The universe will be better off without you..." Aquaman said as blood dripped down his battered face. He then commanded another attack on Red Skull.

"Ahhh!" Red Skull screamed as he felt his veins explode as Aquaman commanded the liquid to rupture through each blood vessel. He dropped down lifeless as his heart failed from the trauma.

"Arthur!? What have you done!?" Wonder Woman demanded as she dropped down from atop a building. "Did you do this!?"

"Yes... it had to be done..." Aquaman said. "And with this new power, I will end _everything_."

"No! This isn't how we do things! We do not end lives!" Wonder Woman demanded.

Meanwhile, Batman was listening to the conversation as he leapt over some rubble, catching one of Dark Archer's arrows as it sailed to hit him. He landed and tucked into a ball, rolling behind a flaming car.

"Diana!? What's happening!?" Batman demanded.

"It's Arthur, Bruce. He-" Wonder Woman began. Before she could continue, Brainiac himself grabbed her around the neck from behind. Although he looked like a normal Human, he was far from it. With super powers and the ability to change his body parts to be liquid metal, he was a formidable and _intelligent_ foe.

"Dia... Diana..." Aquaman stammered. He tried to Bloodbend Brainiac but found he could not. Brainiac had no fluids in him that Aquaman could manipulate.

"Arthur!? What's happening!?" Batman demanded as he crept through the rubble, formulating a plan to catch Dark Archer.

"Brainiac has Diana..." Aquaman said as he tried to lift himself up to his feet. "He-"

"Me am Superman! Me _destroy_!" Bizarro yelled as he descended down on the injured Aquaman. It took him less than five seconds to break the defenseless superhero's neck.

"...Aquaman is down." Cyborg reported as he pushed himself away from Juggernaut, throwing him at Deathstroke so the two would start fighting each other.

"No!" Scarlet Speedster screamed as he rushed to find Bizarro laughing at Aquaman's corpse. Sneering, he zoomed forward and began running around Bizarro, landing punch after punch without relenting.

All the while, Batman rolled out into the open. Just as he had planned, Dark Archer made his presence known and shot at Batman. Deciding to take the hit, Batman tossed several plasma grenades at the rubble around Dark Archer, hoping to cause the debris to incapacitate the evil marksman.

He watched as his plan went according to how he had mapped it out. He clenched his jaw as the arrow dug into his rib. Had he not moved, it would have lodged itself someplace likely fatal.

"Ahhh!" Dark Archer cried out as the grenades went off, trapping him under debris.

Pulling out the arrow, Batman got up to see if he could get to Dark Archer and place a device on him that would send him to a special prison area constructed for the JLA's rogues. Before he could get any further, an arrow sailed through the air and into Dark Archer's head, ending his Life.

"No!" Batman gasped. He looked around to see Green Arrow land beside him. "Oliver!? What have you _done_!?"

Green Arrow frowned and shook his head. "It wasn't me..."

The two heroes looked up to find the culprit: Arsenal, Green Arrow's former sidekick.

"Roy!? What are you doing!? We do _not_ take lives!" Green Arrow demanded.

Arsenal sneered. "He had it coming. He's been making your sister's life _miserable_. I had to free her..."

"Thea..." Arrow said in shock. "He told her he's her real father?"

"Months ago," Arsenal said. "She was trying to keep it a secret so you didn't worry about her, but... I found out. Oliver, you should have seen what he was _doing_ to her mind!"

"We'll talk about this later, Arsenal," Batman said. "We have a battle to win."

On the other side of the city, Scarlet Speedster continued to pummel Bizarro as he felt someone else enter the area. Glancing quickly to the side he saw the Hulk.

"Hulk _smash_!" The green man roared as Scarlet Speedster backed away. Hulk swung hard and punched the dizzy evil clone as hard as he could, sending him flying.

As they began to battle, Scarlet Speedster noticed another battle occurring nearby: Quicksilver, Impulse, Flash, Reverse Flash, and Flash 2.0 duking it out.

"Oh, _heck_ yes!" Scarlet Speedster said as he rocketed into the fray, diving straight into Flash 2.0 and tackling him down.

"Only losers get blindsided." Flash 2.0 said as he laughed at Reverse Flash. He then turned and ran at Impulse.

As Reverse Flash dove at Impulse, The Flash zoomed in from the side and simply stuck out his foot, causing him to trip.

Quicksilver nodded. "Yup. Only losers indeed."

About a mile away from there, Wolverine and Cyclops were battling Sabertooth and Joker. Cyclops shot a massive beam to hit Joker, who shielded himself with his Hyena Spirit. Meanwhile, Wolverine leapt forward and swung mercilessly at Sabertooth.

"You can't beat me!" Sabertooth yelled. "I'm too powerful!"

Wolverine looked up and smiled. "Maybe you're right... Maybe I'll need a little _help_..."

"Huh!?" Sabertooth wondered aloud. Before he could react, a massive blast of power enveloped him from Vision. As it did, Wolverine sunk his blades from his hands deep into Sabertooth's trunk, stabbing him in the heart.

"You have _no_ idea how long I've been waiting to do that..." Wolverine said as he felt Sabertooth's last breath leave his body.

"You guys are _animals_." Hawkman said as he landed beside Wolverine.

"You take their Life or they take yours. That's how it is," Wolverine stated simply.

Hawkman shook his head. "No, that's what the government tells you. What if you hadn't escaped Hydra, huh? Wouldn't you want to have the same chance to be rehabilitated that you actually got? Who's to say how many of these "villains" aren't really just brainwashed?"

Wolverine sneered. "We are at war. In war you _execute_ the threat. If I happened to be on the other side then I think I should have been treated the same way: executed."

Meanwhile up in the main Hydra ship, Lex was in a panic. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. He never conceived it possible for Red Skull to lose his Life.

 _There's only one thing left to do..._ Lex said as he went to his computer. _It must be done_ _now_ _!_

Vibe stopped as he dodged a strike from the Winter Soldier. "Uh-oh... Guys! Incoming! Something from... I don't know... like _another universe_ is coming!"

Spider-Man, along with Spider-Girl and Spider UK, leapt over Carnage. As he shot webbing at the insane villain he said, "What do you _mean_ 'another universe'!?"

Sending a shockwave that sent Winter Soldier flying, Vibe looked up at the dueling spiders above him and shrugged. "I don't know. It's just what I'm _feeling_."

Nightwing looked down from the roof he was on after beating down some assassins and frowned. He looked to both Batgirl and Robin who was with him. "Did you hear what Vibe said? Well, I think that's it right there."

All of the fighters in the area stopped and stared as what seemed to be a rip in the fabric of Space and Time appeared in the middle of the street. Purple light emanated out from it, illuminating everything in an eerie radiance that left the fighters uneasy. Future: Omega Ranger in the Hall of Legends gasped as he saw what came out: Cub, the creature created by Deviot centuries prior.

Omega's Third Eye told him something about Cub that wasn't apparent at first, though: it wasn't the Cub from Timeline B. That Cub had been sent to a far off planet by Zordon after he absorbed a portion of the Zeo Crystal. The Cub the fighters were staring at was the beast from Timeline A. Omega recalled how _that_ Cub had been merged with the Deviot from Timeline A and had been present during the final battle for Earth during the Lunar Cry Ultimecia had unleashed on the Morphing Masters. Cub/Deviot had been fighting against the Guardian when the Time "monitoring" Watcher, Captain Windmark, had sent Cub/Deviot into a Time Door out into the Nothingness to contain him.

Lex Luthor laughed as he saw Cub/Deviot step foot onto Metropolis. Going to a microphone, he masked his voice with tech and spoke into it. "Hello good people of Metropolis. As the new leader of Hydra, I am happy to present you my newest weapon. I found him one day while experimenting with Time Magic, or at least _trying_ to use Time Magic. He sure is quite the find, isn't he? I like to call him _Doomsday_. It's been nice knowing you. Goodbye."

Having scanned the beast in his computer, he had seen how unbalanced and wild it was. He knew from what little he could determine of the beast that he was unstable and ready to destroy anything and _everything_ in his path.

As Omega Ranger watched in shock as "Doomsday" began to plow through the assassins and Hydra agents as if they were nothing but tissue paper, he noticed someone to the side. He was invisible to all but Omega, due to his Third Eye. It was D, the leader of the Ethereal Reapers. Omega also knew that he was secretly a Freelancer for the enigmatic Traveler, a supposed super being who contended with the Supreme with an as of yet known goal.

"It worked," D said into his wrist tech. "Windmark sent the creature into the Nothingness and saved him there until this point in Time. I tampered with the being known as Lex Luthor's computer and allowed him to find the being he is calling 'Doomsday'. Everything is falling into place for the Traveler's plans. I have shielded Doomsday from the Watchers. They will not be coming to investigate. This ends this log for Agent D. Over and out."

Omega watched as the Reaper turned off his pocket device and began to walk over to the downed bodies. He was still a Reaper, after all, and he had many Spirits to collect and help cross over to the Afterlife.

Deathstroke was thrown from a couple of blocks away by Juggernaut and into Doomsday's path. As he pulled himself up, awaiting another hit from Juggernaut who was storming forward, he turned and saw Doomsday.

"What in the world is that!?" Deathstroke said as he pointed a rifle at Doomsday. He began shooting at it in hopes of protecting himself.

"Ultimate!" Doomsday screamed as he lunged forward. He grabbed Deathstroke, lifted him off his feet and folded him in half, tossing his Lifeless body to the side.

Seeing the horrific end to Deathstroke, Juggernaut sneered as he approached Doomsday. "I'll show _you_ who's 'ultimate'!"

Doomsday turned and simply thrust his fist into Juggernaut's guy. The villain looked down and saw Doomsday's arm going deeper and deeper into his stomach as he coughed up blood.

"But... But I'm the Juggernaut..." He said as he was tossed to the side like a ragdoll.

Meanwhile, away from the devastation Doomsday was causing, Captain America threw his shield at Brainiac, causing him to fall to the ground. "Back down now, Brainiac."

"You cannot hope to win. You end is near," Brainiac answered.

"Not as near as yours, you foul villain!" Auric announced as he flew down, slamming his blade deep into Brainiac's chest.

"No! No... Nuh... No..." Brainiac stuttered as he began trying to leave his body to the nearest computer.

"Tsk, tsk..." Iron Man said as he zoomed in. "I've put some sort of energy barrier around you, Brainiac. It seems as if you're not going anywhere."

Batman approached Captain America and frowned. "This is why I'll never join the Avengers. I won't end lives like this."

Captain America shook his head. "You'll regret that decision someday, Batman. The planet is safer because we have put villains down who threatened us. If we keep them around, they'll escape and continue attacking us. Taking those who we love. Bruce... You can't keep letting people like _the Joker_ escape your prisons. It's not right."

"What's not right is playing god with others lives," Batman said. "I already have my demons... I don't need the guilt of taking another person's Life be one of them."

"Ah!" Batman heard over his comm.

"What is it!?" Batman demanded.

"There's this... _thing_ running around destroying everything! We can't stop it!" Cyborg yelled through his comm.

"I see him," Superman said. "It must be that Doomsday thing whoever is up in that Hydra ship said. If only it wasn't cloaked with Kryptonite I'd blast in and rip whoever it is out of there and show him what's what."

"I'm on my way," Batman said.

"Avengers!? Let's focus on this 'Doomsday', shall we!?" Captain America shouted as he and his team ran ahead.

As they did, Sinestro floated over Doomsday. "Let's see how _Fear_ suits you..."

Doomsday roared as the Yellow Energy hit him. Looking up at Sinestro, he jumped up and grabbed him midair. Green Battery and Green Lantern watched in shock as Doomsday _bit off Sinestro's head_.

"Well, it looks like the Emotional Spectrum won't affect him..." Green Battery commented.

"We're in trouble..." Green Lantern reported.

"Ahhh!" Black Canary screamed at Doomsday, trying to take him down as all the heroes had their earplugs in.

Turning in a rage at the source of the sound, Doomsday picked up a car and chucked it at Black Canary. Right before it was to hit her, Superman punched it out of the way.

"Pick on someone with your own strength level." Superman stated, folding his arms across his chest.

"We'll help you, too," Flash said as the other Speedsters appeared.

Flash 2.0 sneered. "We weren't told this thing even existed. It ghosted Juggernaut, and he was Hydra... That means it'll end _any_ of us. Count me in."

Reverse Flash nodded as he took his place beside the other Speedsters. "Me, too. Let's do it."

"Now!" Impulse shouted as the Speedsters rushed ahead to hit Doomsday simultaneously.

Before they could, though, the Man in Yellow appeared in the form of a bolt of red lightning. He zoomed around the users of the Speed Force, around and around. In a matter of moments, they vanished along with the Man in Yellow.

"Where'd they go!?" Wonder Woman demanded.

Vibe shook his head. "I... I don't know. They're _gone_. Like not in this _universe_ they're gone."

Cyborg and Superman, in the meantime, dived forward and landed blows on Doomsday. The beast roared as he punched Superman, confused that the Last Son of Krypton stayed standing after the hit.

"Together!" Vision said to Cyborg as the two rushed in.

Doomsday turned with amazing reflexes and grabbed each hero in each of his hands. He squeezed as hard as he could as Superman flew into him, barely making him budge. As Superman wrapped an arm around his throat from behind to suffocate Doomsday, the grey skinned beast snapped Cyborg's neck. Dropping him, he put both hands on Vision's body.

"No! No, I-" Vision began. Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes went dark as his body was crushed beyond the ability to function.

"Nice to be back, sir." Jarvis said as we uploaded himself into Iron Man's suit.

"This guy's the real deal, huh?" Iron Man asked.

"I have an idea..." ATOM said as he landed behind Doomsday. Before Doomsday could react, ATOM shrunk himself and leapt onto Doomsday. He ran and dived into the massive beast's mouth.

"Hulk _pound_!" Hulk cried out as he landed in the area, carrying the unconscious Bizarro in one hand. He tossed him at Doomsday and then rushed forward to tackle him.

"Rargh!" Doomsday cried out as he felt Hulk's fists beat down on him.

"Coming in to help!" Superman said as he landed blows of his own.

"Let's get in there, guys!" Wolverine cried out. As he and the X-Men went to help, however, General Zod landed before them.

"I think not." He said as he pointed a Red Lantern Ring at them. "Not let's see how your Mutant love for one another stands after a bit of _Rage_."

As Wolverine's eyes turned red, he looked to Cyclops. "C'mon, bub. You know that Jean loves _me_ and not _you_!"

Shooting beams laced with Red Energy at Wolverine, he curled his lip. "You'll pay for trying to get my _wife_ , Logan!"

Rogue fell to her knees, the Red Energy permeating her very being. "Ah! Help me!"

Xavier, able to block the effects with his powers, tried to get to Rogue but was stopped when he saw something _horrible_ : Jean pointed her hands at Beast, Gambit, and Iceman. Xavier watched as they were lifted up and into the air before deteriorating before his very eyes.

"Jean!?" Xavier shouted.

Jean laughed, floating up and into the air. The Rage had sunk deep into her mind, corrupting her psychic powers so much that her mind developed what could only be described as a _whole new personality_. "Jean is no more... I think I'll go by the name of my Animal Spirit... I'm the Phoenix!"

Xavier shot a blast of Psychic Energy at her to try and calm her down, but was shocked to see it had _no_ effect. Phoenix laughed as she was covered in Psychic and Phoenix Spirit Energy as she shot a powerful blast at Xavier, lifting him out of his chair. He clenched his teeth as he felt Phoenix begin to rip him apart from the inside out.

 _No! No!_ Xavier gasped in his own mind. He couldn't figure out how to get himself out of the horrible situation. As he did, he could feel his powers fading, unable to guard him much longer.

"Professor!" Rogue said as he body acclimated to the Rage. The way her Mutant powers worked allowed her to quickly get past its overwhelming affect. She took off her gloves and placed her hands on Phoenix's face.

"Agh!" Phoenix screamed as she felt Rogue begin to drain her of her powers. Blasting Rogue away, Phoenix turned and flew off to recuperate from the attack.

Rogue turned and saw Xavier lying on the ground, breathing shallowly. "Professor?"

"I... I'm not going to make it," Xavier said. "We _cannot_ lose this battle. Between Jean being... in... infected and that... _Doomsday_... You have to save us."

"Me!?" Rogue cried out.

Xavier nodded slowly. "Seeing you just now... gave me an... idea... Touch me."

"No! Save your strength!" Rogue demanded.

"No. Take my powers. Use them as long as you can. You can save us all," Xavier said.

"No! We can do it together!" Rogue insisted.

Xavier looked to the side and saw Captain America, Superman, Iron Man, Hulk, Wonder Woman, and Vibe attacking Doomsday. He then turned and looked at Rogue. Focusing what little strength he had, he psychically attacked her.

"Agh!" She screamed as she felt her mind become controlled by Xavier. She watched in shock as he hands were forced onto his face. "No! Professor!"

"For the defense of all living..." Xavier said as she touched him. Within moments his Life was gone.

A shock of Psychic Energy entered into Rogue. It flowed through her and lifted her up off the ground momentarily. Before she could move another inch, the power overwhelmed her as she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, a group of heroes had cleared out the last of the League of Assassins. Leading the group was Batman and Green Arrow.

Arrow looked around. "We did it. Now let's go see if we can help out with that Doomsday Clark told us about."

Batman nodded. He looked around and saw who was in their vicinity: Hawkman, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Hawkgirl, Auric the Conquerer, Scarlet Witch, and Green Battery. Although he wasn't ecstatic about having three Avengers in the group he was leading, he knew he would need their help to get to Doomsday. He knew they were bound to run into trouble on the way.

Lo and behold, before he had taken two steps, Phoenix landed before them breathing heavily. She turned and looked at Black Canary.

"Jean? What's wrong!?" Black Canary asked.

Phoenix simply smiled as she pointed a hand at Black Canary. Before anyone could flinch, Black Canary fell to her knees, blood dripping from her mouth, ears, and ears.

"Dinah!" Arrow yelled as he pointed an arrow with his bow at Phoenix. "What are you doing, Jean!?"

She laughed. "I'm purging you all from existence. It's the only thing that can feed this _Rage_ I'm feeling!"

Batman frowned as he reached for his utility belt. "She's been turned into a Red Lantern. She's a Class Nine Mutant, everyone. Stay alert!"

"Dinah! Speak to me!" Arrow demanded as he unleashed an arrow at Phoenix.

The Rage infected Jean saw the arrow coming and instead of destroying it, she redirected it and sent it straight at Hawkman's throat. She laughed as it landed in his throat.

"Carter!" Hawkgirl yelled as she flew to him.

Arrow ran to Black Canary. Feeling her pulse, he clenched his fist. "No! No!"

Looking at Hawkman, Hawkgirl suddenly had a flash in her mind: the two of them side by side fighting against Ra's al Ghul.

"I... I remember!" She gasped.

Hawkman looked up at her. Although he was in immense pain, the thought she remembered him made it all seem almost alright. Smiling, he gave up the ghost.

"Noooo!" Hawkgirl screamed.

Green Lantern and Green Battery charged up their Power Rings. They didn't know what they would do to overpower the Red Lantern power, but they knew they had to. Otherwise they were done for.

Batman clenched a fist, batarang in hand. "This may be our last stand everyone. Let's make it count."

Blocks away from that incident Winter Soldier, Iron Monger (controlled by Lex Luthor), and a recently revived Bizarro stared at Arsenal, Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin, and Black Panther as the heroes were led by Captain Britain.

"You can't hope to beat us!" Winter Soldier said, laughing. "You'll lose to me, just like Martian Manhunter did four years ago!"

Nightwing clenched his jaw as he heard that. "Now you're _really_ gonna get it!"

Leaping forward, Nightwing held metal bars in each hand as he descended to hit Winter Soldier. Before he could, Bizarro punched him, sending him flying back. Nightwing could feel his arm break as he landed on it incorrectly.

"Stay calm everyone," Captain Britain advised. "We must use our heads!"

"Alright. I'll take the left an-" Robin began. Before he could utter another word, blood poured out his mouth. The group watched in shock as Joker stood up slowly from behind Robin. From Robin's chest one could see a lead pipe sticking out from where Joker had impaled him.

Pulling out the pipe, Joker bashed Robin over the head and kicked him to the ground.

"No! Tim!" Nightwing shouted, his mind racing. He had always seen Robin as a little brother. Seeing him lose his Life like that was too much for him. He could feel tears running down his cheek.

Joker bowed. "And for my next trick? Ta-da!"

Dropping down from a building, Ra's al Ghul himself landed beside the Joker. Calmly pulling out a blade from the sheath on his belt, he looked at Robin then those around him.

"There is no good and evil in my sights," He said calmly. "Only those who will not follow me in my new world order. You either stand as an assassin, or fall like this young man."

Iron Monger turned and looked to Bizarro and Winter Soldier. Lex Luthor's modulated voice echoed from the machine. "We'll need the help of the heroes. We must team up."

Arsenal pulled out an arrow and pointed his bow at Ra's. "The only one who will fall here is _you_."

Batgirl, clenching her fist, stared at Ra's. "This ends here!"

Black Panther nodded. "My vendetta is with you for poisoning my country. You will fall by my hand. This I guarantee."

Ra's al Ghul nodded. "Let us see who is more a man of their word: you or me." He stared at each of the fighters before him, waiting to see who would move first.

On the roofs of the buildings, a spider battle was occurring between Carnage, Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, and Spider-UK. Carnage was shooting tendrils of slime from out of his back at the Web Warriors as they attempted as many acrobatic maneuvers they could to get around him.

"Cheeky fellow, isn't he?" Spider UK asked as he shoulder was grazed by a razor sharp tendril.

"Eh, Kletus is pretty lean. Although they're prominent, I wouldn't say he's _cheeky_. More like Cyclops and his cheeks, ya know?" Spider-Man said, shooting webs at Carnage.

"Yah!" Spider-Girl yelled as she dove in, punching Carnage in the face. He toppled back, but slashed her arm before he fell.

"We have to figure out a way to beat him!" Spider UK insisted.

"Oh, so _that's_ what we've been trying to do!" Spider-Man said.

Clutching her bleeding arm, Spider-Girl sighed as Carnage stood up and laughed. She braced herself as more tendrils flew toward them. "We have to think of something _quick_ or we're done for!"

Before Omega went to check on how the heroes fighting against Doomsday were doing, he rewound his file. He stopped at the moment the Man in Yellow zoomed around the Speedsters. Going as slowly as he could, he saw in their midst what looked like a Time Vortex open up and swallow them all. Using his Third Eye ability, Omega was surprised to find himself seeing what happened in the vortex.

. . .

 _ **The Nothingness**_

Flash looked around at his environment. All he could see stretching on for what seemed like eternity was white. Well, other than those Speedsters who had been sucked out of their universe with him: Impulse, Flash 2.0, Scarlet Speedster, Quicksilver, and Reverse Flash.

"Where are we?" Flash 2.0 asked, looking around. "Is this one of your tricks, Reverse Flash?"

Reverse Flash shook his head. "I have no idea where we are..."

"Let me tell you..." The Man in the Yellow Suit said as he appeared in a bolt of red lightning.

"Another Flash!?" Impulse gasped.

Scarlet Speedster shook his head. "This is ridiculous."

The Man in Yellow smiled, his eyes glowing bright red. "Let me explain... You see, I wish to become a god! And I needed each of you together at the same time, tapping into the Speed Force simultaneously, to be able to create... _this place_!"

"What is this place!?" The Flash demanded.

The Man in Yellow smiled. "This place is a bubble... a Time Sphere... floating in the ocean of chaos that exists outside our universe. It is saturated with Time Magic and Speed Force created from you all. The Time Magic courtesy of, as you guessed, Quicksilver."

Quicksilver sneered. "I don't understand! What is this!?"

Flash looked around. "Outside the universe? Why!? What are you planning!?"

"I discovered in my research that the universe resided in a sea of chaos. Continuing my research of the Speed Force, I was able to one day take an accidental peek into the future! I saw a white armored figure in the middle of something magnificent. The being was called the Future: Omega Ranger! Standing in the middle of a majestic beam of light that was going to create whoever stood in it the ability to become a literal god, able to remold the entirety of existence! I... I _want_ that power for _myself_! After years of research I came up with _this_!" The Man in Yellow explained. He then looked down at his watch. "Almost time!"

"Time for what!?" Flash 2.0 demanded.

"Time for me, Professor Zoom, to teach you all a lesson in T _ime travel_! You see, I programmed this bubble to have Time progress _much_ slower for us. You see, for you mere minutes have gone by. In our universe, though? Nearly one hundred years! Look!"

As Professor Zoom said this, he motioned with his hand to the side, opening up what seemed to be a window out of their bubble. Flash looked out, the inner scientist in him intrigued. He could see an ocean of black. In the middle of that ocean he saw what appeared to be a massive bubblein the midst of the chaos. The bubble seemed to contain within it an entire universe, which it did.

"That's our universe?" Flash asked.

"Yes... and it should be creeping up on the year 2050 there," Professor Zoom answered slowly.

"No... My family... Iris..." Flash said, his head swimming.

Impulse swallowed hard. "No! Mom! Dad, we have to reverse this!"

Professor Zoom laughed. "There's no use. If you go back in Time, you'll only create a new Timeline. The people would only _look_ like those who you loved, but their Spirits will be _different_!"

"How could you do this to us!?" Quicksilver demanded, thinking of his sister Scarlet Witch.

"It has nothing to do with _you_. You are merely pawns in my game to godhood." Professor Zoom said, laughing.

"He needs us, guys," Flash 2.0 said. "He can't hurt us. Let's take him out!"

Professor Zoom smiled as Flash 2.0 ran at him. Lifting up a hand and vibrating it with what seemed like _corrupted Speed Force_ , he thrust it into Flash 2.0's chest as he approached him. He fell to the ground, Lifeless.

"I actually _don't_ need any of you anymore," Professor Zoom said. "You'll only get in my way."

Quicksilver swallowed hard. "Although we can't be there for our families anymore, the least we can do is save the rest of the universe."

Reverse Flash nodded. "I'm in if you lot are."

Flash turned and pointed at Professor Zoom. "Your journey ends here, Zoom."

Suddenly vibrating all over his body, Professor Zoom laughed a deep, dark, and other worldly laugh. "Bring it."

. . .

 _ **1955 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Pausing the file there, Omega went back to what was happening on Earth before he got sucked into writing about a battle. He watched on Earth as Superman shot lasers from his eyes to cut down Doomsday, though it seemed to have no effect. Vibe shot several shockwaves at Doomsday, which seemed to cut his skin a bit, but only to reveal more of his nearly indestructible bone structure.

"I can't figure out any weaknesses on this guy!" Iron Man complained. "This is ridiculous!"

Captain America rushed forward, leading with his shield. Doomsday punched him as hard as he could. Captain America was sent flying back, crashing into a side building. As he slid down to the ground, he looked down and was shocked to see a massive dent in his shield, which he didn't think any living thing could had ever accomplished.

"Hulk _mad_!" The Incredible Hulk roared as he punched Doomsday. Superman couldn't help but smile as he saw Doomsday stagger back, looking visibly shaken from the hit.

"Yagh!" General Zod yelled as he flew down and gave all he could into Doomsday. He landed on him feet first, driving Doomsday deep into the ground.

"Zod..." Superman said. Zordon and the citizens of the universe had told Superman who was responsible for the demise of his homeworld. Seeing Zod help him left Superman torn.

"Today we are allies, Superman." Zod explained as he stepped out of the crater. "And I hope that one day-"

Before he could utter another word, Doomsday jumped out of the crater and stabbed Zod from behind with one of his bony protrusions. Blood poured out of Zod's mouth as he gasped for air before Doomsday threw him to the side as if he were nothing more than an old dishrag.

"Impossible!" Wonder Woman gasped.

"If he was able to down a Kryptonian..." Iron Man said, flying slowly back. He was for the first time truly afraid of an opponent.

Clenching his fists, Superman stepped forward. "Even if it will cost me my Life, I will not back down. This is where a true hero is tested. How is one a hero if they are like me, jumping into situations they know cannot hurt them? Well, now I _know_ I can be hurt, but that won't stop me. Today is when I prove that I am a _true_ hero."

Flexing every muscle in his body, Superman stared Doomsday in the eyes. Breathing out slowly, he zoomed ahead as fast as he could and threw all of his might at Doomsday. The heroes around stared wide eyed at the scene, unable to move from the sheer amazing sight of such power being wielded.

Meanwhile, up at the top of a building, someone watched as he sat at the roof's edge, swinging his legs as he had a bucket of popcorn in his lap. He wore a red suit with several knives holstered around his suit, and two swords strapped to his back. He wore a red mask with big black circles around the eye holes.

"Oh, boy!" The mysterious figure said. "What an exciting development for the kids at home eh, Sam!?"

Future: Omega Ranger blinked rapidly as he stared at his computer screen in the Hall of Legends. "Wait... huh?"

"Yes, Señor Power Ranger. I know you're watching and listening. Let's just say it's one of my _powers_ , kay? Got it? Good? Now, I don't know exactly how this fight's gonna end up, but let me tell you something similar to this makes one heck of a good comic book in another universe! Oh, let me introduce myself... _me llamo_ Deadpool. And... I guess it's probably time for me to jump in on the action, right? Of course I'm right! Haha!"

Future: Omega Ranger stared dumbfounded at his screen as Deadpool tossed the bucket of popcorn to the side. He stood up and unsheathed each of his swords and placed his arms out to his sides. Sighing, Deadpool took a step forward and began to freefall down to the fight against Doomsday.

Looking almost seemingly straight at Omega Ranger, Deadpool said as he continued falling through the air, "To be concluded, ladies and gentlemen, in the Superhero Registration Act Part Four! Oh, and _spoiler alert_ : I will side with Batman during the next part of the story. You'll see what I mean, don't worry. Until next time!"

. . .

 ** _The Nothingness_**

The Flash darted forward to attack Professor Zoom, Reverse Flash next to him. Flash was surprised when Reverse Flash clenched his jaw, speeding ahead and going faster than The Flash. Reverse Flash had recently been able to figure out how to crank up the ability to tap the Speed Force and move even faster than the recently deceased Flash 2.0 had been able to.

Professor Zoom was suddenly covered in red lightning as Reverse Flash approached him. Before Reverse Flash could react, Professor Zoom moved quicker than _even he_ and appeared behind him, stabbing Reverse Flash in the back with his vibrating hand. The Flash, Impulse, and Quicksilver stopped dead in their tracks as they saw Reverse Flash go Lifeless.

"What!?" Quicksilver demanded. "None of us can go that fast. What the heck do we do!?"

Professor Zoom turned around and smiled. "It is always good to know I have fans. Yes, I am _much_ quicker than you all. It is because I have been studying Mr. Allen here for quite some time..."

Flash frowned. "Who are you!? How do you know my identity!?"

Taking off his mask, Flash was shocked to see the face of a man he knew: a man by the name of Harrison Wells. Dr. Wells was the scientist who was the founder of Barry's STAR Labs. After Dr. Wells had _supposedly_ perished in a large explosion, it had been discovered that Wells left Barry Allen the lab for his work. The Flash was beginning to realize it may have been a part of a grander plan.

"Wells!? How!?" Impulse demanded.

"Well, I faked the explosion. I needed to allow Barry here to use the lab in the only way _he_ knew how. I would slowly watch from inside the lab in my secret rooms. I learned from him about how the Speed Force really worked," Dr. Wells explained. "IThen? I was able to create a counter to the Speed Force which would allow me to create this bubble out of the universe. This bubble that would allow me to get to the future and become the god I was meant to be!"

"All of this just for power!?" Quicksilver yelled. "You ruined our lives and stripped us of our families for _this_!?"

Putting the mask back on, Professor Zoom smiled. "Like I said, I created a counter to the Speed Force. I call it the Negative Speed Force. My tech allows me to run faster than you all. Also, the Negative Speed Force is like a _cancer_ to the Speed Force, so what I'm trying to say Quicksilver is... you can't beat me. Just sit tight and let me end your lives. If you do so, then you will be reunited with those who you feel I took you from _real_ soon."

"Never!" Flash spat. "Although we may have lost our families, we are heroes and we will never allow you to _bully_ those who cannot defend themselves."

"Then this should be fun. Quick, but fun." Zoom said as he raced ahead to murder his foes.

Quicksilver saw Zoom rushing to hit Impulse. Closing his eyes and hoping he could buy some time for Impulse and Flash to figure out a way to end Professor Zoom, Quicksilver dived forward to intercept the attack and end his own Life, to save his fellow heroes.

"Fool!" Zoom cried out as he saw Quicksilver's act. He then thrust his fist into Quicksilver.

"Quicksilver!" Flash yelled, running to intercept the hit. He was too late.

"Wait... huh!?" Zoom demanded as he found himself drained of his speed. "What's happening!?"

"I'll tell you what's happenin'! It's _clobberin'_ time!" A massive orange colored humanoid yelled out as he appeared in the white bubble floating in the Nothingness outside the multi-branched universe he belonged to.

"My speed! What have you done with it!?" Zoom demanded.

"Whatever it is you did, _thank you,_ " Quicksilver said as Flash and Impulse helped him up.

Suddenly, Zoom's chin jutted up in the air as if he'd been hit by an uppercut. He flew through the air before landing on his back, blood dripping down his mouth. Those in the room watched as a woman slowly appeared before them.

"Name's Sue Storm. And that's our buddy Ben." The woman said as she appeared from her invisible state.

"You all can call me The Thing, though." Thing said as he stepped forward. "Only my closest friends call me Ben. No offense."

"Agh!" Zoom cried out as he pointed a small pistol at Sue. Before he could shoot, though, a burst of flame shot at his hand, forcing him to drop the gun.

"Leave my sis alone, creep!" A Human who seemed to be aflame cried out.

"That's my brother. His name is Johnny but he goes by the hero name Human Torch." Sue said as the man landed beside her, turning his flames "off".

"You seriously were a man ahead of your time, Wells," A man's voice said from the other side of the bubble. Looking over, a man with brown hair (though greying above the ears) stood, wearing a black and white outfit similar in design to the other three people.

"Who are you?" Flash asked.

"My name is Reed Richards. I am the leader of this group. We are the Fantastic Four, a subdivision and leaders of a group called the Future Foundation. We are an offshoot of Time Force."

"Huh?" Impulse said, shrugging.

Sue smiled. "We don't expect you to understand. But we'll explain everything."

"Like how Reed over there seems to be Stretch Armstrong?" Flash asked, pointing as Reed stretched an arm out and wrapped it around the powerless Professor Zoom, lifting him up and into the air.

Thing nodded. "Yup. We'll explain everything."

"We may also need your help. We are currently facing a threat the likes of which Earth has never seen," Johnny said. "It's pretty serious. The entire multiverse could collapse in on itself, destroying everyone in it!"

Quicksilver groaned. "Out of the frying pan and into the fryer."

Flash looked at the small "window" Zoom had created for them to see the universe. "What years is it, by the way?"

Reed pushed a button on his wrist tech and teleported them all to his building's roof. Turning around, Flash could see a city that seemed to be in a similar condition to what he left Metropolis in.

Reed walked up to him and pointed out. "This is Newtech City. It's the year 2050, and out there is the enemy."

Flash, Impulse, and Quicksilver looked out to see a beam of light jutting out of a building they knew not was SPD Headquarters up and into the sky. They looked to each other, worry on their faces.

"That beam is opening up a Time Vortex with enough pull to cause all of the nearby universes to collapse in on themselves. It's what we call a 'Crisis'," A voice said from behind them. The three Speedsters turned to see Anubis "Doggie" Cruger.

"Wha!? A _talking dog_!?" Impulse blurted out.

Anubis laughed. "I see they named you Impulse for a _reason_. My name is Anubis Cruger, and I am spearheading the attack against that threat."

Flash squinted at him. "You're a hologram?"

"Yes. I am broadcasting from another Timeline which branched out from your universe. I am working with a group called Time Force to contain this threat," Anubis replied. "And I'm going to need all of you guys' help if we are to win. Are you ready?"

"Of course. Where do we start?" Flash replied.

"We need you and the Fantastic Four to-" Cruger began. Before he finished, Rip Hunter's face appeared on the screen.

"And that's when I was discovered by my superiors of the Linear Men. They told me I had inadvertently been able to witness events that were near simultaneous with the present. That was the closest I got to seeing that there was a major problem occurring with SPD's Timeline. I was told I needed to go back to 1955 and continue chronicling that, but I am going to investigate further what is happening on Earth. I have a sinking feeling that it's connected to whoever is doing the Power Ranger Archives in the Hall of Legends. I _will_ get to the bottom of this and figure out what they are hiding from me and the rest of us here in Time Force. Then I will do all I can to help. _Whatever_ I can do to help."

In the Hall of Legends, Sophie's voice was heard. "Well, we know how _that_ ended. Rip found out about you being here, came to break you out and took you to Newtech where you met up with Captain Windmark before he sent you back here, to protect you from the Watchers using you."

Omega Ranger nodded. "Yeah. But that doesn't answer the question of who is behind all of this. I mean, Windmark himself is a double agent working for the Traveler, spying on the Supreme. And it still seems that whoever is doing this current Crisis is not working for _at least_ the Traveler. It may be the Supreme's doing, but something tells me it's something else entirely."

"I just hope we can find out soon..." Sophie said.

"Yeah, me too..." Omega Ranger said as he continued the file.

. . .

 _ **1955 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Carnage laughed as he shot more tendrils out at the injured heroes. He knew they were unable to defeat him. His Symbiote was too powerful for them to be able to overcome.

"Give up! You know we have won!" Carnage declared, speaking in favor of both Kletus and the Symbiote slime covering him.

"I think _not_!" A voice yelled as he descended from a helicopter.

"Thompson!?" Spider-Man called out. "What are you doing here!?"

The man known as Flash Thompson aka Agent Venom laughed. "You didn't think the CIA would leave you guys floundering, did you!?"

A couple of years prior, Spider-Man had been infected by a Symbiote named Venom. Things didn't... _work out_ between them and Spider-Man forced the slime off his body. Becoming a villain known as Venom, the Symbiote possessed others to try and get its revenge on Spider-Man. After a while, Spider-Man and the CIA had been able to contain the Symbiote and "tame" it, turning it into a weapon. Although Hydra had been able to create a clone of it and cause Carnage to be born, the US government had their own Symbiote ready to use in battle.

"Yah!" Agent Venom cried out, jumping and shooting tendrils of his own at Carnage. As he did, he pulled out a gun in each hand and began to open fire.

"Ah!" Carnage cried out. The bullets seemed to carry some sort of chemical that the Symbiote was allergic to, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Now!" Spider UK cried out. The three Web Warriors joined Agent Venom and within moments were able to shoot so much webbing onto Carnage that he could hardly breathe. He was captured.

"Thanks, Thompson," Spider-Man said. "Although you were a jerk to me in high school, you turned out okay."

"No prob, Pete," Agent Venom said. "Now, I'm gonna bring in Carnage. You guys go ahead and start on taking out the rest of the Hydra agents and assassins. I'll be back soon to help out."

"You heard 'em, boys!" Spider-Girl said. "Let's whip some bad guy tail!"

A few blocks away, a Hyena Spirit howled as it leapt forward, attacking Bizarro. It emanated from Joker, who was firing his gun at Arsenal and Batgirl, who were doing their best to avoid getting hit by the maniacal prankster.

Winter Soldier, meanwhile, rode atop the back of Iron Monger as they watched Ra's al Ghul fight against Black Panter and Captain Britain. Winter Soldier stared down at the fluidity of Ra's al Ghul's movements, blocking each attack aimed at him with precision. Above the fight was the Panter Spirit fighting the Demon Spirit belonging to Black Panther and Ra's al Ghul, respectively.

"Now, Winter Soldier!" Lex Luthor said via Iron Monger's audio system.

"Right..." Winter Soldier said hesitantly. He clenched his metal fist and leapt off of Iron Monger. He stretched forth his vibranium/adamantium arm to punch Ra's as he descended.

Feeling a shift in the wind, Ra's looked up with his peripheral vision and saw Winter Soldier coming toward him. Ra's al Ghul ducked under a zooming punch from Captain Britain, simultaneously sweeping the legs out from under Black Panther as he pulled out his sword. When Winter Soldier was close enough Ra's ducked into a ball, rolled to the right, and plunged his blade into Winter Soldier as he was within range. The stabbing caused the brainwashed soldier to not stick his landing but to crash hard into the cement street. He lost his Life upon impact.

Captain Britain shook his head. "Bucky... I am so sorry. You did not deserve such an end. I knew you well during World War II and... Ra's al Ghul!? You will pay for your insolence!"

The Super Soldier leapt forward to attack Ra's. Taking advantage of the hero's impulsive attack, Ra's al Ghul waited until Captain Britain was close enough before he dropped onto his back. Due to momentum and being airborne, Captain Britain had no way of correcting his trajectory. He felt a sharp pain run down his trunk as he flew past Ra's. Crashing into a wall as he began to grow whoozy, he looked down to see that Ra's had lifted up a sword as Captain Britain flew by, causing the sword to cut deep into him and almost be cut in half.

"You have ripped me asunder, Demon Head..." Captain Britain gasped. "May you rot for your treachery..."

Ra's smiled as Captain Britain drew his last breath. "I will only rot in the Afterlife if I give up the ghost. I am the immortal Ra's al Ghul. Such a thing shall _never_ happen!"

"Think again, creep." Nightwing said as he landed behind him, kicking him in the back as he cradled his broken arm.

As Ra's corrected himself midair air, Black Panther lunged forward and grabbed him. As the two landed, they began to wrestle each other. Suddenly, a blast hit them both from above.

Nightwing frowned as he saw Iron Monger land, having been the source of the blast. "What are you doing!?"

"They are both my enemy," Lex/Monger said. "No reason to not take advantage of the-skzzt."

Nightwing watched as the massive machine fell to its knees, losing power. He could see Ra's al Ghul standing behind it as it fell face first, having stabbed the massive machine in the right spot to shut it down. He could see Black Panther nearly dead in the background, struggling for breath.

"Even injured you fight me." Ra's said as he walked toward Nightwing. "Impressive. Your master trained you well. Let's see if you are as good as _he_ is."

Nightwing scoffed. "You'd fight me injured?"

"You are the one who entered the fight, hitting me from behind. When I end you, it will be your own fault." Ra's said as he circled slowly toward Nightwing, ready to end his Life.

Meanwhile, Joker laughed as he was hit in the shoulder by Arsenal. "You can't possibly think you can- ungh!"

His eyes went wide as he felt a blade plunge deep into his back. Looking behind him he saw Batgirl with a shard of glass, digging it deep into his spine.

"You... you can't!" Joker cried out. "It's against your code!"

"You murdered Tim," Batgirl said simply. "Besides... I'm not Batman. I have no qualms in ending _your_ Life."

Kicking him down, Batgirl watched him fall to his face, unmoving. Tears streaming down her face, she turned and ran to Arsenal.

"Dick needs our help," Arsenal said.

"Okay, let's go," Batgirl replied.

As the two of them began to run, Batgirl suddenly noticed Arsenal vanish. Turning around quickly, she saw Bizarro flying up and away holding Arsenal.

"No! Roy!" Batgirl gasped. "Roy!"

Arsenal knew what Bizarro planned on doing: he was going to fly him as high as he could. If Arsenal survived not having enough oxygen, then the next thing would surely end him: he knew Bizarro was going to just let him freefall to his end.

Arsenal looked up at Bizzaro, smirking as he could feel himself beginning to black out. "You... You'll never be the _real_ Superman..."

"Me _am_ Superman!" Bizarro roared in anger.

"Oh... oh, yeah?" Arsenal asked. He had something in mind, something SHIELD had been researching but hadn't come up with anything conclusive. It was Arsenal's last hope at defeating Bizarro. "Well, if... if... if you... ungh... if you _were_ better than Superman, then you... you would be able tuh... to break into the east wing of Queen Industries... Superman... never was able... able to..."

"Me am best! Me show puny red hood boy!" Bizarro cried out.

Arsenal could feel Bizarro changing directions. What Bizarro didn't know was that the east wing of Queen Industries' main building in Metropolis was where SHIELD was doing their experiments on something known as _blue Kryptonite_. There was a hypothesis that since it was able to give more strength to Superman (although causing him to go made with Rage), it may have the _opposite_ effect on Bizarro, creating a reaction similar to Superman and green Kryptonite.

Arsenal saw Bizarro zeroing in. He sighed, realizing Bizarro was going to not let him go before heading in. Knowing he only had one thing left to do, he moved his hands to his belt as his arms were pinned to his side. Hitting a button on the belt, reserved for the worst of situations, Arsenal activated the explosive arrows in his quiver. He knew they would explode upon impact with the building wall. He also knew that Bizarro's proximity to the blue Kryptonite would be enough to weaken him and cause him to fall to the explosion, just like he would. Arsenal then closed his eyes as he felt the arrows go off in his quiver, ending both his and Bizarro's lives.

Meanwhile, back at the fight with Ra's al Ghul, Nightwing fell to his knees, blood dripping from his battered face. As he did, Ra's kicked him in the stomach and caused him to fall straight onto his belly, arms and legs sprawled out.

"Ahh!" Nightwing screamed as Ra's stepped on Nightwing's already broken arm.

"You have fought valiantly, young man," Ra's said. "But alas... your time is done. Remember that I hold you in the highest esteem. Not many could have fought me with the tenacity and vigor with which you had. You are truly a great warrior."

"Shut up and do it," Nightwing spat.

Pulling out a sword, Ra's nodded. He then swung down to stab Nightwing in the back, for the blade to enter his heart from behind.

"Yah!" Batgirl cried out, throwing Batarangs at Ra's' hand. The sword flew out and clattered as it hit the street.

Ra's smiled. "Silly little girl. Prepare for your end."

"Barbara... run!" Nightwing gasped as he saw Ra's al Ghul rush at her.

"I'm not leaving you like this!" Batgirl yelled as she blocked the first three punches before being tripped by the leader of the League of Assassins. She twirled away right before he was to stomp on her. "I _love_ you, Dick!"

Tears poured down Nightwing's bruised face. "I love you, too, Barbara! But please! Run!"

Batgirl jumped over a fallen column as Ra's picked up a metal rod. Cocking back his arm, he aimed and charged the rod with Black Energy. Throwing it, he watched the rod hit Batgirl in the thigh as she was midair, causing her to fall to her face.

"And now you will... you... you will... ha... hehehe... ha-ha- _ha_! Ah-hahahaha! Oh, a-hahaha!" Ra's al Ghul screamed, doubling over in what appeared to be pain as he laughed maniacally. Tears poured down his face as he laughed. He laughed so hard the vessels in his eyes began to burst. After a long and awkward minute of laughter, during which Batgirl and Nightwing watched with bated breath as they were scattered on the ground and injured, Ra's fell to his knees and coughed up some blood before falling to his face, Lifeless. His eyes were open and glassy, with an eerie smile stuck on his face.

"I don't know..." Joker's voice was heard saying. "I didn't see what was so funny..."

Batgirl watched as Joker limped out of the shadows. "I had just enough to poison him... It was supposed to be under different circumstances, you know. I was going to be having dinner with him tonight and that was when I'd shoot my venom at him. But, he was about to _end_ you, Batgirl. I... I couldn't have that! No! Not after what you _did_ to me... You _stabbed_ me in the back, you hussy! How _dare_ you!

"... So, you can see that predicament I was in. I either end him _after_ he destroys all the heroes, and then _I_ can become the new leader of the League of Assassins, or... or I take my vengeance on you _myself_! I think you see what I picked... Ugh! My _back_! It hurts _so_ much!"

"Stay away from her!" Nightwing screamed as he managed to get onto all fours. "Come at _me_ , Joker!"

"Shut up!" Joker screamed, the normal whimsy in his voice gone. "Your _girlfriend_ tried to _cripple_ me. I heard you say how much you love her... Let's see how much you love her after I _return the favor_."

"Stay away!" Batgirl cried out as she lifted herself up. She yelled as she pulled the metal bar out of her thigh.

"And that will be the _last_ thing you ever feel in your legs!" Joker yelled as he unleashed his Hyena Spirit on Batgirl, knocking her down. He then limped forward and picked up the metal rod.

"No! Barbara!" Nightwing screamed as he watched Joker begin to swing at Batgirl with the rod.

It all occurred in a matter of moments. Moments that seemed to stretch on for an eternity. By the time Nightwing had made his way to Batgirl, Joker was long gone and she was unconscious from all the pain. Nightwing hugged her as she lay there, blood pouring out her mouth as he wished he could fix her broken back.

Several blocks away, Hawkgirl flew up and into the air with her mace in hand. Charging it with immense Spirit Energy, she threw it at Phoenix. She yelled in anger as Phoenix simply eradicated the blast and shot yet another shockwave of Red Energy with Psychic Energy out from her.

"Ah!" Green Lantern screamed as he and Green Battery tried to maintain their shields to protect the heroes.

"I don't know how much longer we can hold her back!" Green Battery screamed.

Batman and Arrow rolled behind a broken column. They began to look through their various tools to see what they had left to tackle their foe.

"Please keep it up. I believe in you," Green Arrow said.

"She is too powerful for us to lose faith now," Batman said.

Phoenix laughed as she flew up toward the two Green Lanterns. She began shooting energy straight at them. "Do you two think your _Willpower_ is enough to counteract my pure _Rage_!? Hahaha!"

A massive blast of Red and Psychic Energy flew out of her, straight at Green Lantern. He closed his eyes, knowing his end was at hand. After a moment, he opened them when he realized he hadn't been hit. He gasped in shock as he saw Green Battery floating in front of him, having taken the blast himself. He yelled in anger as he saw Green Battery begin to turn to dust.

"Yes! Give into your Rage!" Phoenix yelled. "Then and only then will you find your true power!"

Batman frowned as Green Battery vanished. He then rolled forward to the area in which it had occurred, something having caught his eye. As he did, Green Arrow decided to buy Green Lantern some time to compose himself by shooting explosive arrows at Phoenix.

"That is _pathetic_!" Phoenix screamed, offended. "I am a _god_ and you shoot me with _arrows_!?"

"Would you like something more... _dangerous_?" Batman said as he suddenly floated up to stare at Phoenix face to face.

"Huh!?" Phoenix and Green Lantern both gasped.

Batman floated in the air, surrounded by Green Energy. On his hand he wore Green Battery's fallen Lantern Ring. He had put it on and had become Green Lantern Batman.

"Ah!" Phoenix cried out, shooting blasts at him.

A force field of the purist Green Energy surround Batman, protecting him from the blasts. Batman had lived his whole life needing to have the Willpower to do what was needed to become the hero he was. To curb himself to not only fight the darkness, live in the darkness, but to not _become_ that darkness. He shot at Phoenix the grandest bolt of Green Energy he could muster. She yelled in pain as she was blasted down and slammed into the ground.

Landing, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Green Lantern Batman, and Hawkgirl surrounded Phoenix. They looked at her, pity filling them. They knew her as the hero Jean Grey, not this beast.

"What do we do?" Arrow asked.

"You _suffer_." Phoenix answered as her eyes fluttered open. She shot them all with Psychic Energy, causing them to fall to their knees as exquisite mental anguis hit them, causing them each to feel their worst fears come to life.

Floating up, Phoenix laughed. "And now is the beginning of my ultim-"

Before she could finish, Rogue flew to her (surrounded by the Psychic Energy she inherited from Charles Xavier) and grabbed her. Rogue screamed as she could feel the intense Psychic Energy enter her.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Jean!" She roared as the Psychic Energy turned her eyes purple.

As Phoenix began to wither away, she turned and looked to Rogue and smiled. "Thank you..."

Lowering herself to the ground, Rogue laid Jean Grey down in the crater. "She's gone..."

"Thank you," Hawkgirl said.

"We were done for," Arrow agreed.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Rogue answered solemnly. "Superman and the others are in a _lot_ of trouble."

. . .

Superman flew through the air as he was punched hard by Doomsday. As he did, he saw Wonder Woman leap up and grab Doomsday around the neck, to choke him.

"Now!" Wonder Woman screamed.

"Yah!" Auric the Conquerer yelled as he attempted to stab Doomsday. He was shocked to see his sword get bent in half.

"Hulk _mad_! Hulk _smash_!" The Incredible Hulk roared as he punched Doomsday in the face, causing Wonder Woman to fly off the beast.

Everyone stared in shock as Doomsday began to punch Hulk back. The two began to trade punches back and forth. What got everyone worried was when they saw Hulk begin to bleed. Up until that point it had been the belief that _nothing_ could penetrate Hulk's skin.

"Wow!" Deadpool cried out. "This is better than the May/Pac fight!"

Deadpool then rushed forward with both swords and attempted to slash at Doomsday. He was swatted away by Doomsday's elbow.

"Aye, mama!" Deadpool cried out as he hit a wall. "That's a one uh spicy meat-uh-ball!"

Captain America leapt up and was caught by Falcon. The two flew straight forward to attack Doomsday as Hulk kept him busy. Doomsday grunted as Captain America slammed into him. Pushing Hulk, he reached up and grabbed Faclon, snapping his neck.

"Sam!" Captain America screamed. "No!"

"I guess Doomsday was in the mood for fried falcon?" Deadpool asked as he leapt over Captain America and landed on Doomsday. "Eenie, meenie, miney... moe!"

Deadpool sank both blades deep into Doomsday's back before being thrown off. "Look, ma! I broke the record!"

Vibe ran to him and helped him up. "How did you _do_ that!?"

Deadpool bowed. "I noticed he winced everytime Hulk punched him there. Now for my next trick... I'm running away!"

Vibe groaned as he saw Deadpool turn and sprint in the other direction. He looked over and saw Hulk punching the point where the blades were in Doomsday with all his might. Superman flew in and joined the battle.

"Rockets fire!" Iron Man ordered as missiles erupted from him. "Geez! It didn't even scratch him!"

"Ultimate!" Doomsday roared as he punched Hulk as hard as he could in the face. Everyone gasped as he fell to the ground, unconscious. Wonder Woman rushed in and picked him up as he reverted to his Human form of Dr. Banner.

"Clark! Now!" Captain America screamed as he jumped at Doomsday. As he did, Superman flew in from the other direction and punched Doomsday in the face.

"No! Steve!" Auric yelled. He clenched his fists as he and everyone else beheld what had occurred: When Superman had punched Doomsday, it caused Doomsday to spin slightly and one of the bones protruding from his body impaled the Super Soldier.

Doomsday grunted and swung the Lifeless body away from him. Seeing the blood covered shield that had once belonged to Captain America at his feet, Doomsday grunted and stepped on it, smashing it into several pieces.

"Steve! No! That's not possible!" Iron Man screamed. "Scan him, Jarvis!"

"I am sorry, Mr. Stark. He is indeed gone..." Jarvis answered solemnly.

"It won't end like this!" Vibe roared, sending massive shockwaves at Doomsday. They seemed to make some of his bones fracture, but not affect him when it came to moving or pain.

"He has to have a weakness!" Auric demanded.

"I'll get it!" Rogue said as she, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl carrying Green Arrow, and Green Lantern Batman arrived.

Doomsday roared as he fell to his knees. Psychic Energy hit him from Rogue as she searched his mind. Images of his many lives and destructions on Krypton's surface hit her. His innocence... then his merger with the being known as Deviot. She saw the Lunar Cry on Earth and Ultimecia's fleet attacking. The last thing she saw before nothing but darkness was Captain Windmark tricking him into a Time Door.

"He... he survived in a place of utter _chaos_..." Rogue muttered as she fell to her knees, letting go of her connection with Doomsday. "A place with no gravity or air or _anything_... I don't know if we _can_ stop him!"

"We _have_ to." Batman said as he rushed forward, surrounded by Green Energy. He punched Doomsday several times before the beast roared and punched the force field around Batman, causing him to fly into a building and go unconscious.

"Bruce is right, everyone," Superman said. "This _must_ end!"

Rogue got up and flew at high speeds to Doomsday. She grabbed him and began absorbing his Lifeforce. As she did, she screamed in pain.

"Rogue!" Wolverine yelled as he and Cyclops, having recently recovered from their bout of Rage, ran into the battle.

"Stand back!" She screamed as she shot Psychic Energy out of her to stop any interferers. Suddenly both she and Doomsday fell to the ground. After a moment he stood back up, roaring with anger. Rogue did not.

"Jarvis!?" Iron Man asked as he shot more missiles and lasers at Doomsday.

"She has passed away..." Jarvis replied.

"Rogue!" Wolverine screamed. He jumped forward and grabbed her body as Cyclops shot at Doomsday.

Superman and Wonder Woman braced themselves and raced ahead. Wonder Woman jumped up and began punching Doomsday in the face as Superman attacked his trunk. All the while, Green Lantern shot at Doomsday with Green Energy, Hawkgirl with Spirit Energy, and Green Arrow with explosive arrows.

Reaching up, Doomsday grabbed Wonder Woman by the neck. She screamed and yelled, kicking and punching at him. It was to no avail: he snapped her neck and tossed her to the side.

"Diana!" Vibe yelled as he ran to her. "No!"

"There's no need to fear! Underdog is here!" Deadpool yelled as he ran in, a bazooka on his shoulder. "Wait... wrong hero... anyway! Fire!"

Doomsday turned and got hit right in the face by the bazooka's shot. At the same time, Superman punched him in the face and caused the beast to fall to the ground. He spat in anger as Doomsday pulled himself up.

"I was _sure_ that'd work..." Deadpool said sadly as he dropped the bazooka. " _Man_! I failed! Any other ideas?"

"He's moving slower..." Iron Man reported. "I think whatever Rogue did to him actually worked."

Suddenly, Doomsday gasped and fell to a knee. Black blood poured out his mouth as a tiny ATOM flew out of Doomsday and grew to normal size.

"Okay, everyone!" ATOM yelled. "I found his heart. It's like a molten piece of black lava. I've been shooting plasma beams at it and I _think_ I may have done some damage..."

"Ray! Move!" Iron Man screamed as he flew down and pushed ATOM out of the way before Doomsday smashed him. Iron Man took a portion of the hit and flew back, slamming into a wall.

"Tony! You okay!?" ATOM yelled.

"I've been better..." Iron Man groaned.

Spider-Man, Spider UK, and Spider-Girl arrived at that point onto the scene. They had just finished canvassing the area, looking for straggling villains. Spider-Man was the first to speak.

"Holy cow!" He gasped. "He's worse than what you guys described!"

"What do we do!?" Spider UK demanded.

"We can't nuke him without putting the survivors of Metropolis or any surrounding city at risk!" Spider-Girl said.

Superman stood up. "No... But we can do something similar... Rogue said this guy survived in a zero vacuum. There's only one way I can think of defeating this thing... He has to go to a black hole."

"But how!?" Green Lantern demanded as he dodged a car Doomsday threw at him. "How would we get him close enough?"

"You could drop him into one from long distance with your ring!" Cyclops proclaimed. "Just wrap a force field around him and throw him at the black hole."

"No, my force field isn't strong enough to contain him!" Green Lantern replied. "I wouldn't even get past the atmosphere before he broke out."

Superman clenched his fist. "Earth is my home... I will _not_ let what happened to Krypton happen to Earth."

As he said this, Batman made his way out of the building, having awoken. "Clark... don't do this..."

Superman turned to him. "I'll need your help, Bruce. I can't do it alone."

"I'm pulling you out before it's too late, Clark," Batman said.

Superman gave him a stern look. "Okay, fine. Let's do this."

Turning around, Batman shot a blast of Green Energy at Doomsday as Superman grappled him. As the two flew up and into the air, Batman turned and looked down.

"The rest of you stay here! Take care of the rest of the Hydra agents and assassins! We'll be right back!" Batman shouted. Before long, the two were flying through space.

Batman focused all he could into his Power Ring as he helped Superman keep Doomsday within arms reach. Batman could feel himself losing his cool as Superman began to bleed from wrestling the beast in deep space with the green bubble.

"There!" Superman cried out after what felt like hours in space. "My special vision sees a black hole. Throw us toward it!"

Batman kept the shield going around the two as he tossed them, keeping them connected to him via his Ring. He flew forward himself, trying to stay in range.

"Bruce!" Superman said via his communicator. "Back away or you'll be sucked into the event horizon!"

"But I'm losing my connection to you!" Batman urged.

"I know!" Superman yelled. "The world needs you to stay leading the forces of good, Bruce! I'm the only one who can make sure Doomsday gets put down!"

"No! Clark!" Batman shouted. He suddenly felt a tug from his ring. He knew if he didn't disconnect, he'd get sucked into the event horizon of the black hole along with Superman and Doomsday.

"You know I'm right!" Superman screamed. "Don't be selfish!"

"Ugh!" Batman yelled as he disconnected from Superman.

"Tell Lois I will always love her!" Superman cried out.

Turning on his cowl's tech, he zoomed in as far as he could, enhancing his tech with Green Energy. Out in the distance he could see Superman as a far away spec, fighting Doomsday in space as they floated. Suddenly, they must have hit the invisible black hole, because they vanished. Superman's comm went silent as he disappeared.

"I will, Clark," Batman said. "And I will be the hero you want me to be... Your destruction will _not_ be in vain."

. . .

 ** _Three Days Later..._**

Lieutenant General McKnight stared at the heroes before him on trial as he sat with other high ranking officers of the military and government. He and the others had been chosen for that trial to be able to prosecute the so called heroes for the massive destruction against the city of Metropolis.

They were being charged for the crime of obstructing justice. The government was accusing the heroes of getting in the way of SHIELD and the CIA and not allowing them to assess the situation as it should have been. Certain images caught by SHIELD were being used as evidence of such, like Iron Man needing to tackle ATOM and getting injured in the process, or Agent Venom needing to be the one to come down and help the Web Warriors battle against Carnage.

The government was claiming that if all of the heroes were on the same page, under the umbrella of the government, that they would have worked more harmoniously and there would have been less casualties and less destruction to government property. They were putting a clause on the heroes: register under the umbrella of the government (meaning giving up all info of who they were to the government) and give up crime fighting, or be arrested and counted a vigilante. The registration was to ensure the government would have control over what occurred and to keep the heroes organized and under their thumb, only to come out of "retirement" when called upon.

Batman, Green Lantern, ATOM, Deadpool, Spider-Man, and Vibe were the only heroes fighting the Registration Act. Batman for one did not want to (in his mind) mock Superman's sacrifice. The others wanted to avoid further problems. Many even believed that since the majority of crimes were over with the fall of the League of Assassins and Hydra, that they weren't needed anymore _anyway_.

"Batman... many of your heroes see the light. For instance, two of your own former associates known as Nightwing and Batgirl have already registered. Batgirl lost her legs in the fight... how many more people need to be hurt with your disorganized 'Justice League'?" The main judge asked.

"Objection!" Deadpool shouted, suddenly wearing a suit and tie over his normal attire. "We did not come prepared for such a question! I demand a mistrial!"

"One more outburst, Mr. Deadpool, and you'll be filed for _contempt,_ " Lieutenant McKnight sneered. He was at his wit's end with Deadpool and his shenanigans.

"In the end, Batman... You and those following you are breaking the law. If you choose to continue fighting this, we will arrest you immediately!" General "Thunderbolt" Ross said as he pounded his fist at the desk before him.

Green Arrow stood up from his bench. "If I may, sir, we have done nothing but good for the world and-"

"That is no longer the question!" The main judge from the Supreme Court said. "We have come down to a choice. Register or be arrested."

Batman sighed. "I have only done that which was needed by for the people. I will continue to do so if that's what needs be."

"Which means...?" McKnight asked.

Batman slowly reached into his utility belt. "Which means I will _not_ be registering." He then threw a smoke pellet from his belt.

"Arrest them!" McKnight screamed.

"Give me liberty, or give me death!" Deadpool shouted as he leapt over the table and jumped out a window.

Green Arrow shot an arrow out the window in the midst of the smoke and used it to zipline out of the building, with Spider-Man webbing his way out as well. ATOM shrunk down and flew out of the building as Green Lantern deflected bullets for all of the heroes with his forcefield before he, too, flew away. All the while, Batman had made his way to a back room and changed into his suit to be Bruce Wayne.

Walking out the front of the building, he found Alfred awaiting him. He sighed as Alfred opened the door to his limo.

"Judging by the police, I'm assuming things did not go well, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked.

"You could say that..." Bruce said. "Just... please take me home. We have _a lot_ of planning to do."


	10. 1960: Global Aftermath

**1960: Global Aftermath**

 ** _1960 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Rolling up her driveway to the ramp that lead to her front door, Barbara Grayson looked around her neighborhood. It had been five years since she had signed for the Superhero Registration. The government had, in return for her abandoning her cowl that had made her Batgirl, given her and Dick Grayson (the former Nightwing, who had also signed the Registration Act before proposing to Barbara so they could start their new lives _together_ ) a large stipend and the ability to relocate to anywhere in the world they wanted to start a fresh, new life.

The place they had decided to stay was Mariner Bay. They had decided to move to that area because of the Donna Winslow. Ever since the Superhero Registration Act occurred and her relationship with Bruce Wayne had dissolved, she had moved back to her hometown to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Although she wanted nothing to do with either Barbara or Dick, they wanted to be close by on the offchance she ever changed her mind. They both had seen Bruce Wayne as a father figure, and after he had married Donna she had grown to become a mother figure for them. They couldn't turn their back on her at the time she likely needed it most.

As Barbara pulled her wheelchair into her home, she noticed the mail on the ground from where the mailman had slipped it through the mail slot. Grabbing the instrument known as a "gopher" she kept by the door, she scooped up the mail and set in on her lap.

"Hey, Honey!" Dick said from the kitchen as he heard he come in.

"Dick! You're home early! Great!" Barbara said excitedly as she wheeled herself to the kitchen.

"Yeah. I got my paperwork done early so the manager let my department go home for the weekend." Dick said as he finished making his peanut butter sandwich.

"Well, he was smart promoting you to supervisor, then." Barbara said as she winked at him. "I remember before you were a super you'd normally need to stay at work _longer_ on Fridays!"

Leaning on the counter and putting a smug look on his face, Dick shrugged. "I guess you're right. I _am_ the best, aren't I?"

Punching him in the hip, she laughed. "You're such a goof."

"Ouch!" Dick said, fake limping away. "Watch it! I have a basketball game tomorrow and I need to be in tip-top shape!"

Reaching out her hand, holding the mail, she handed it to her husband. "Stop being a whine-baby and read the mail, would ya?"

"Fine, fine," He said. "Bills, bills, bills, and... huh? Do you have an 'Uncle Jack'?"

Pursing her lips, she shook her head. "Not that I can recall."

Opening the letter, Dick began to read outloud: "Dear Nightwing and Batgirl..."

"What!?" Barbara said, her head darting up.

Dick furrowed his brow as he continued to read: "'It's me, The Joker! I am currently writing to you from Akham Asylum. Apparently SHIELD had spies in the midst of the League of Assassins. Who knew, huh!? Well, I've been captured and I'm going through rehab here. Unfortunately for me, I have to write letters to those who I have wronged. As you can imagine, I am beginning to have carpal tunnel because of all the letters I have to write. Do not worry... I have no idea where you live. I write the letters and SHIELD and-slash-or the CIA sends them out for me.

"So, first to Nightwing: I am very sorry I hurt you for so many years. You deserved better.

"To Batgirl: My apologies for that incident with'- Hey, Barbara? I think that's enough..." Dick said, stopping.

She shook her head. "No. I want you to continue."

Sighing, Dick nodded. "'-for that incident with the metal rod. I really hope you can forgive me for that.

"Well, I am having a very horrible time here. You have no idea what sorts of tactics they use on us to get us to become better people. Let's just say we are being _put to good use_ here with _volunteering_ to _better the community_. I have met some nice people here, though. I may even be getting married soon! I'll let you know how that goes, kay?

"Well, I hope things are going well for you. I understand that you guys didn't think of inviting me to your wedding. It makes sense. Ol' Bats would probably be against it, huh? Well, I don't know when the next time I write you will be, but just know that I am _always_ thinking of you two. You both hold a special place in my heart. _Very_ special. On that note, Batgirl? I _totally_ forgive you for literally stabbing me in the back. _Promise_. No grudges here!

Signed,

The Joker'."

"Well, at least he's locked away..." Barbara said. She looked down and realized she had been clutching her arm rest so tightly her knuckles were white and she had been losing feeling in her fingers.

"He's a sick and demented psychopath. I don't know why they just don't give all those loonies up in Arkham the death penalty," Dick said. "The world would be a better place without them."

"Agreed," Barbara said bitterly. "And I have no idea how they could use those criminals in community service projects. That sounds like a lot of money to rehabilitate the unhelpable."

Dick nodded as he tore up the letter and tossed it into the recycling bin beside him. "So, let's just get that out of our head, huh? How's about pizza tonight?"

Plastering a smile on her face, Barbara nodded. "Sounds great. You pick the place, okay?"

As Dick began to go through his coupon drawer, Barbara eyed the recycling bin. She couldn't help but wonder what Joker was doing right at that precise moment...

. . .

The Joker howled as he flew through the air, having been pushed off the building he had been on by Spider-Man. "I could use some _help_ here!"

"I got ya, Sweetie!" The archer known as Cupid said as she said an arrow at her recently obtained husband. She and Joker had _really_ hit things off and had been married a few days earlier.

Joker felt the arrow zoom by his head and pin his suit jacket to the side of the building he had fallen off. "What a honeymoon, eh, Babe?"

Shooting another arrow at Spider-Man, Cupid laughed. "You can say that again!"

"What a honeymoon, eh, Babe?" Joker repeated as his wife had suggested.

"Shut your mouths, _please_." Deadshot said over his microphone as he aimed his gun at Spider-Man. "I can't concentrate over you two idiots."

"Amanda! He's picking on me!" Joker complained.

From her base of operations, the CIA agent known as Amanda Waller groaned. "Joker? Shut up before I activate your chip. Got it?"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Joker cried out as he continued to hang off the side of the building. "When I joined the Suicide Squad you said that you'd only blow off my head if I didn't do the mission. Nowhere did my contract say you could do it because of my _annoyances_!"

Amanda smirked. "I guess I must've forgotten to add that in. It's a byline. Now shut your mouth and grab that vigilante."

The Suicide Squad was a top secret project by the CIA to attempt to put to good use the "talents" of the villains who they had locked up. Offering the villains a chance to continue to use their powers and not spend the rest of their lives locked up, those who accepted were given surgeries to implant a chip into their brain that was linked up to the CIA. If any of the members of Suicide Squad stepped out of line, they would have the chip explode, which in turn would blow off their heads. It was the incentive needed to keep them in line and on task.

Agent Venom was the man leading that particular task force. The Suicide Squad dealt mostly with tracking down vigilantes who continued to work despite the Superhero Registration Act. Shooting his artificial slime webbing, he swung from the building he had been on and landed in front of Spider-Man.

"Peter." Agent Venom said before he turned off his microphone.

"Flash... c'mon, man. You know I'm only trying to _help_ everyone!" Spider-Man protested. "You don't need to do this!"

"I'm already doing more than I'm supposed to by not spilling your identity. I'm giving you the opportunity to still go back to your normal life! MJ loves you, man! Don't throw that away!" Agent Venom said as he kept his gun trained on Spider-Man.

"MJ wouldn't love me if I wasn't the man that I am," Spider-Man retorted. "She loves me _because_ I'm willing to sacrifice myself for everyone else. It's _who I am_."

"Then join the Avengers, bro," Agent Venom said.

Spider-Man laughed, shaking his head. "That boat's long gone. I've been branded a vigilante. If they allow me into the Avengers, then they risk the other heroes gaining a larger fanbase like we used to have, Flash. People will start hoping us vigilantes will turn over a new leaf. If we're put away, though, it shows the government has no mercy for us and we'll continue to be hated by everyone. I mean just this morning I saved a little old lady from a mugger and _she punched me_!"

Agent Venom sighed. "I'm sorry, man... But this is my job. I _need_ to bring you in if you won't stop. Now, I'm giving you another chance here. Leave now and promise you won't go back to crime fighting. I'll make it look like you beat me and got away. Just... just don't go back to being Spider-Man."

Spider-Man clenched his fist. "I _can't do that_!"

"Please don't make me put you down..." Agent Venom said.

"I got a clean shot," Deadshot said over the audio system. "Let me know when I can hit him."

"It's Agent Venom's call," Waller reported. "Whenever he's done chitchatting and turns his mic back on, that is."

"Please, Pete!" Agent Venom demanded. "Do the smart thing!"

Cupid, unbeknownst to them, stood on a different building with her arrow trained on Spider-Man. Going to private mode, she said to Waller: "I'm ready."

Waller nodded as she went to private speak herself. "Fire. I'm tired of these games our agents have trying to help their friends. He's a menace and needs to be an example of."

Joker approached Cupid and laughed. "Ready to take him out, Dear?"

Cupid let go of the arrow. "More than happy."

"Huh?!" Spider-Man said as his Spider Sense (an ability allowing him to sense danger) kicked in. He jumped up as the arrow almost hit him.

"Whoa!" Agent Venom said as Spider-Man jumped. He did not see the arrow, because it sailed past and off the building's roof.

"Fire! He's attacking!" Waller said to everyone. It was going exactly as she planned.

"Firing." Deadshot said as the crackshot began to shoot.

"No! Pete, run!" Agent Venom said.

"This is more exercise than I've gotten in _years_!" Spider-Man said as bullets and arrows whizzed past him.

"Venom! Fire _now_!" Waller ordered.

Sighing, Agent Venom did as was asked, trying to only maim Spider-Man. He frowned as he saw an arrow sink deep into Spider-Man's left soleus.

"Ahh!" Spider-Man said as the pain shot through him. He was so focused on his leg he didn't notice the bullet going straight for his chest.

As the bullet hit him midair between buildings, Agent Venom jumped forward and caught him. He swung over to the closest building and set him down.

"Peter!? Peter!?" Agent Venom yelled. He checked for a pulse. Nothing.

"We did it!" Joker declared as he and Cupid made their way to the roof.

"Yeah... you sure did..." Agent Venom said. "Waller!? It wasn't supposed to end _like this_!"

Waller smirked in her base. "He shouldn't have run, then."

Deadshot then made his way to Agent Venom and patted him on the shoulder. "What did you expect when you teamed up with criminals, kid? Grow _up_ and stop whining. We got work to do."

Clenching his jaw, Agent Venom stared at the lifeless body of Spider-Man, Peter Parker, before him. He felt sick to his soul. As a helicopter landed on the roof to pick up the body, he turned and followed the Suicide Squad back to their own plane to get back to base.

. . .

The former Spider UK, William Braddock, stood next to King T'Challa, the king of the country of Wakanda and former Black Panther. They were on a ship headed toward an island off the coast of Wakanda called Mysterio Island. With them was the former Avenger, Auric.

"Thank you for allowing us use of your boat, William." T'Challa said as they watched the waves crashing.

William smiled at T'Challa and Auric. "Why, of course. Anything for former allies."

Auric sighed heavily. "I really do appreciate it. My dreams have been intensifying. I can't get them to stop... I hope you allowing me to find a place to hibernate for a season will allow me to find a way to get my head on straight..."

T'Challa looked at Auric sadly. "I still don't know why you just don't go to SHIELD to help you, old friend!"

"There's... something else I haven't told you," Auric began as a confession. "I do not like the direction things are going with your Human government. Hunting down former heroes and stopping the progression of other heroes does not sit well with me. I am losing my confidence in this branch of herodom."

William nodded slowly. "Ah... I think I understand, chap. You aren't just going to hibernate for yourself. You're running away so that the government doesn't use you in this business in which you don't agree."

"Correct," Auric said.

Looking out into the distance, Mysterio Island got closer and closer. "Well, then... We will place you here so you can find yourself, old friend."

"And remember," Auric began. "If there ever comes a time when my services are needed, do not hesitate to call upon me!"

Nodding, William turned to face Auric. "Will do. Will do. Now we'll be landing any moment now. I have the perfect cave ready for you, too."

"Thank you both very much. And T'Challa?" Auric said.

"Yes, Auric?"

"I wish you the best of luck with the sickness hitting the animals of your country. Although it is a lingering testament of the League of Assassins, I know that just as they were extinguished someday a talented doctor will find a way to cure the animals. I just _know_ it." Auric said.

T'Challa smiled. "So do I, old friend. Now, let's get going. You have a hibernation to get to."

As Gold Magic surrouned Auric, he waved goodbye to his former allies. "Thank you for everything! And may the Power protect you!"

. . .

ATOM shot a paralyzer blast at the bank robber, causing him to fall instantly to the ground. Satisfied with his work, he turned and began to fly away. As he did, he saw Iron Man floating before him.

"Oh, boy..." ATOM said as he saw his nemesis.

"That's right, Ray. End of the line." Iron Man said as he shot an EMP to deactivate ATOM.

"Ah!" ATOM cried out as he shrunk. Just as he had thought, he grew too small for the EMP to pick him up.

"Seriously, Ray? Come on... I'm just doing my job." Iron Man said as he shot a blast net to try and capture the tiny vigilante.

"So am I!" ATOM cried out, flying to Iron Man and slipping into his armor.

"Please stop this!" Iron Man demanded.

"I'll stop when I'm too old to operate this suit!"

"Don't you think I _like_ what you do!? I'm only doing this because you are going against the government, man. If I hated you, I'd tell the government your secret identity. Come on, Ray... Just _stop_ causing problems. You know how much time you'd save if I didn't have to chase you around!?"

"But you _don't_." ATOM replied as he found a circuit to deactivate Iron Man's suit, which he did.

As Iron Man crashed to the ground, he groaned. "I guess I'll see you next time..."

"Guess so..." ATOM said as he flew off. He didn't know how long he had until he was caught, but until that day came he wouldn't stop being the hero that he was.

. . .

Deadpool sighed as he walked through the Amazon Rainforest. He looked up at the Time Force Camera floating above him as if he could see it.

"Oh, hi! Nice to have you here!" Deadpool said to the Future: Omega Ranger.

"What!?" Omega demanded. "How is he seeing me yet not changing the Timeline!?"

"Beats me... I mean, this isn't a Timeloop, so if he can see you it technically means we've changed the past... yet we haven't?" Sophie stated, confused.

Deadpool laughed. "No, no... I was actually talking to myself in the year 1960. If anyone were to have been near me right now, they'd think I was crazy talking to myself, just like I actually am. I'm just able to perceive what will happen before it happens. So in reality I'm just talking to you as if you will be here. Get it?"

Future: Omega Ranger frowned. "Actually... no, I don't."

"Good!" Deadpool said as he continued to walk through the foliage. "Now, it's pretty stinky how things have turned out for us heroes, huh?"

"Yes. I really think the government is making a bad decision with that Registration Act," Omega replied.

"Me, too! Wow! We must be twinners or something, huh!?" Deadpool said excitedly. "It's almost as if there's some sort of conspiracy theory, huh? Woops! Spoiler alert!"

"Huh? Seriously!?" Sophie demanded.

Suddenly, Future: Omega Ranger felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Jumping up out of his chair he spun around to see Deadpool standing behind him in the Hall of Legends next to his Chrono Workstation.

"Wha... huh!? How!?" Omega Ranger demanded.

"Whew! I've waited _ninety years_ to be able to finish this conversation!" Deadpool announced. "And this place looks _much_ better than it did in my head. I just _love_ what you've done with the place."

"Oh, it's older me!" The Deadpool on the screen from 1960 said. "Wow! I aged _very_ well!"

"What the heck is going on here!?" Omega Ranger demanded, looking from one Deadpool to the other.

Deadpool 2050 began pointing and laughing at Future: Omega Ranger. "Can you believe this guy!? Haha! What a fuddy dud!"

"I know, huh!?" Deadpool 1960 remarked, doubling over with laughter as he held his stomach. "Oh, look at me! I'm Sam! I'm _so confused_!"

Future: Omega Ranger furrowed his brow behind his visor. "Well, if you can get in here, you can get me out."

"Nope. You need to stay in here," Deadpool 2050 replied. "Sorry, but ya' gotta finish the Archives. That history is gonna be important where you'll be going."

"Where I'm going!? What does _that_ mean!?" Future: Omega Ranger demanded.

Deadpool 1960 wagged his finger. "Nuh-unh! You're not supposed to find out about that until _much_ later."

"But when you do find out... Hmm... I'm interested to see how you react!" Deadpool 2050 said, putting his hand to his chin in thought. "My precognition can only go so far, you know."

"What the heck are your powers, anyway!?" Omega Ranger asked, flustered.

"Well, I was the son of a general. I went on a mission once with Hugh Jackman and then I was given the powers of many different Mutants. Sadly, my dad sewed my mouth shut. Then I had laser vision! The end!" Deadpool 2050 said, leaning on the Chrono Workstation.

"What!? You're going with the _X-Men Origins_ movie synopsis!? But that movie _killed_ our characterization!" Deadpool 1960 declared.

"Yeah, but _Days of Future Past_ sure did fix it, huh?" Deadpool 2050 replied to his past self on the screen. "I'm stoked to see what Ryan Reynolds will do as us!"

"You and me, too, brutha!" Deadpool 1960 agreed.

Future: Omega Ranger's shoulders slumped down. "Why in the heck are you even here, again?"

"Well, duh!" Deadpool 2050 said. "First, I had to be here to make the dialogue I said ninety years ago make any sense. Otherwise you'd be watching me on the screen say things to you that made no sense! Then the illusion would be ruined!"

"And that's what Jessica Tandy would've done!" Deadpool 1960 replied.

Deadpool 2050 scratched his head. "Huh? I guess I must've skipped a portion of the script... I don't remember how that fit in..."

Deadpool 1960 shrugged. "It's okay. We can't all be perfect."

"My brain hurts..." Sophie replied as she tried to keep track of the discussion.

"Anyway, another reason I'm here is to drop little hints of future storylines to the reader!" Deadpool 2050 said. "And I'm doing it via a comedic narrative pipeline, too!"

"Um... thanks, but... I'd really prefer you skip the foreshadowing and just straight up tell me how to get out of here so I can end the war happening on Earth," Omega said.

"No can do! Like I said, you need to finish the Archives!" Deadpool 1960 said.

"Actually, _I_ said that," Deadpool 2050 replied.

"Semantics..." Deadpool 1960 said, shrugging it off.

"Anyway, please remember stay strong when indexing these files. Anubis Cruger has a very good reason that he sent you here to do this," Deadpool 2050 said. "I wish you luck and also that your legs won't cramp as you sit there, hour after hour."

"May the Power protect you, Sam!" Deadpool 1960 said from the screen. "Oh, and future me?"

"Yes, past me?" Deadpool 2050 answered.

"Have fun fighting alongside Flash, Quicksilver, Impulse, and the Fantastic Four. Tell them all I said 'hi'!" Deadpool 1960 said as he began waving.

"Will do! Now let's go fight C- I mean, that bad guy!" Deadpool 2050 said.

"Ugh! Just tell me already!" Future: Omega Ranger yelled.

"Tsk, tsk... no patience! You'll find out once you start archiving Tainted Birth, okay? That story is super dark, but super fun! Okay, buh-bye!" Deadpool 2050 said as he performed a backflip. As he did, a Time Vortex appeared and he flipped himself into it.

"Good luck, Sam!" Deadpool 1960 said as he leapt into some trees.

"Time Force Cameras!? Lock onto him and follow him!" Future: Omega Ranger demanded.

"Unable to. The person requested has vanished from our radar," The computer replied.

"Well, that was extremely annoying," Sophie replied.

"Yeah... I mean... yeah, that was annoying," Omega agreed. "I guess we just continue archiving..."

. . .

Batman stood on the roof of a building. It was the middle of the night as he stared out, looking for any crimes. He sensed something move behind him, but knowing who it was by the way the air moved he didn't flinch.

"Bruce... I waited for you this morning and you didn't show up." Green Lantern stated as he landed on the roof. "Although you have some natural gifts when it comes to your Power Ring, I still need to teach you some of the advanced stuff."

Batman sighed. "I was busy, Hal."

"That's the third practice in a row that you've been 'busy'," Green Lantern retorted.

"This time of year is always... _hard_ for me..." Batman replied.

Green Lantern felt as if he'd been hit by a bus. He had completely forgotten what month it was. It was the month in which Bruce's parents had been gunned down. It was also the month Batman had originally married Donna Winslow. He had picked that month to be able to have something good offset what had happened to his parents. Unfortunately for him, it hadn't worked out the way he had wanted.

"Bruce... I'm sure Donna would take you back..." Green Lantern said.

Batman scoffed. "And that's what makes this even harder. I made a commitment to defend my city. Although Hawkgirl and Arrow may have made similar commitments and backed out of them because of the Superhero Registration Act, I haven't. I'm not like them. Oliver has Felicity he was able to go back to. He is able to be with her and forget the darkness in him. I can't do that. I can't turn my back on Gotham. Because of that I will always be hunted. I couldn't drag Donna into it. I _had_ to divorce her..."

"No, you didn't. Donna is a big girl. She can choose for herself," Green Lantern answered. "She wanted to, and probably still wants to, stand by your side through thick and thin. I... I don't agree with how you abandoned her."

Batman clenched a fist and turned in anger to stare at Green Lantern. "I did _not_ abandon her. I left her with seventy five percent of my fortune. She will be taken care of!"

"Life is about more than money!" Green Lantern yelled.

"It's not abouty the money! It's about the _security_!" Batman yelled. "I couldn't have my wife and son wondering everyday whether I'd be caught by the Suicide Squad or not!"

Green Lantern was taken aback. "Your _son_!?"

Batman sighed. "Donna found out shortly after the Registration Act that she was pregnant. That's when I decided I had to leave. I... I never wanted anyone to know about it. His name is Damian."

"Damian Wayne, eh?"

"No, Winslow. I have a rogue gallery that actually happens to know my secret identity. That was yet another reason I left Donna: she and Damian went back to her maiden name. I had Alfred scrub the database to make it look like she and I were never married," Batman replied.

"She still must be devastated..." Green Lantern stated.

"Yes, but at least they are still _alive_..." Batman countered.

"Which is not the same I can say for you!" Joker yelled as he jumped on Batman, tackling him.

"No!" Green Lantern yelled, pointing his Power Ring at Joker. Before he could do anything, he was shot in the chest by Deadshot. It bruised his chest, almost penetrating his suit.

"How much did you hear, Joker?" Batman said as he kicked the menace off of him.

"Nothing I didn't already know, _Brucey_." Joker replied as he jumped onto his feet.

Batman frowned. "How long?"

"I've _always_ known your 'secret identity', Bats!" Joker said, laughing.

"Why did you never attack me personally, then?" Batman said, standing as the wind blew his cape back.

"Because that would've been no _fun_!" Joker yelled. "You and I are the same person! We both are out of our minds, but we're fighting on opposite sides of the battle. I would want to be taken down on the battlefield, and I know you want _the same_."

"I should end your life after what you did to Barbara and Tim..." Batman said as he pulled out a batarang.

"But you _won't_! You know the _real_ reason you never ended me? It's because you know _you need me_! I'm a proton and you're an electron! We _both_ need to exist to make things _exciting_!" Joker said, pulling out a pistol.

"Then maybe once you're gone, I can finally be free of this fight..." Batman said. "If Batman exists because of The Joker, I can finally put Batman to rest by _putting_ _you_ _to rest_!"

Batman threw his batarang at Joker as the prankster shot it out of the air. As he did that, Batman rolled forward and leapt ahead, tackling Joker at the waist. In the process of doing that, though, he felt an arrow sink past his armor and pierce him in the back.

"Agh!" Batman yelled as he let go of Joker, falling to his knees in pain.

"Thanks, Honey!" Joker said as he kicked Batman in the face.

Cupid stood on the building across theirs, smiling. "Not a problem!"

As Joker began to beat on Batman, Green Lantern shot beams of Green Energy at Deadshot. Being the perfect sniper he was, though, Deadshot was unseen by Green Lantern due to the great perch he had picked for himself.

"Come out!" Green Lantern demanded.

"I'm sorry, Green Lantern..." Agent Venom said as he descended onto Green Lantern. At the last moment, a Green Energy forcefield appeared and caused Agent Venom to bounce off and land on a building nearby.

"I'm a hero!" Green Lantern demanded. "Go fight a villain!"

"According to the law, you _are_ a villain," Agent Venom said as two Agents of SHIELD appeared beside him: Hawkeye and Black Widow.

"Stand down _now_ , Green Lantern!" Black Widow declared.

"Give us your Power Ring and cease your illegal activities or suffer the consequences..." Hawkeye said, drawing his bow back, aiming an arrow at Green Lantern.

"Look at you... Siding with villains!" Green Lantern yelled. "Batman, a hero among heroes, is being beaten by The Joker and _you're allowing it_!"

Before he could say another word, Deadshot took a shot at him. The bullet was made from an experimental tech that was seemingly able to harness Yellow Energy. Unfortunately for Green Lantern, it worked. He was shot through the heart, life ending instantly.

"Come on, Waller!" Agent Venom demanded. "This isn't an assassination mission!"

"It is _now,_ " Waller said. "It's been five years. They've had enough warnings. Joker? Finish Batman."

"No!" Agent Venom yelled. As he ran to save Batman, Black Widow jumped in front of him.

"Don't do anything stupid, Thompson," She warned.

"I've watched two good men lose their lives today. The only stupid thing I could do next is let a third man fall as well," Agent Venom declared.

"Sorry, Flash. Orders are orders." Hawkeye said as he shot an arrow at Agent Venom with a sonic device attached to it. SHIELD had discovered the Symbiote species were sensitive to high frequency sound, and in case Agent Venom ever went rogue they outfitted Hawkeye with tech to put him down.

Before the arrow landed on the ground to emit its signal, Vibe appeared and shot a shockwave at it to cause it to explode. He then turned and hit Black Widow to get her away from Agent Venom.

"Huh!?" Hawkeye demanded. "We have another vigilante here! Deadshot! I need you to take fire! Deadshot? Deadshot!?"

Suddenly, another voice entered into Hawkeye's ear. It belonged to Spider-Girl. "Sorry, but he's currently been taken down. He'll have to get back to you later..."

"We've been compromised!" Hawkeye yelled. Before he took another step, Hawkgirl flew in and hit him across the face, knocking him out before he even landed on the ground of the roof.

"Two down!" Hawkgirl said as she rounded back to help Agent Venom and Vibe. Several SHIELD agents were storming in as it happened, ready to fight.

"Good timing to change sides..." Spider-Girl said as she landed next to Agent Venom.

"What are you guys doing here!?" He demanded, especially surprised to see Spider-Girl and Hawkgirl for they were Registered Heroes.

"After we heard what happened to Peter, we started following the Suicide Squad to stop it from happening again," Spider-Girl answered.

"We were too late for Hal, though..." Hawkgirl said sadly as she hit a SHIELD agent.

"Yah!" Black Widow cried out as she dived at Vibe.

"Kaboom!" Vibe said as he emitted a blast from himself at Black Widow. He did just as he had planned: because he telegraphed to her what he was to do by saying it, she readjusted and jumped up to avoid the hit. Because she did, Hawkgirl was able to swoop in and grab her.

"Go to sleep." Hawkgirl said as she whacked Black Widow over the head with her mace mallet.

Meanwhile, Cupid wathced as Joker continued to beat Batman. She found his dominance over Batman to be very attractive.

"Maybe I _can_ exist without you, Bats!" Joker cried out as he kicked Batman in the throat as he lay on the ground on his back.

"Ugh... Just end it then..." Batman managed to cough out as he felt another kick to the ribs.

"Alright! I will!" Joker yelled as he picked Batman up by the throat. He then dragged him over to the edge of the building. "And now, Bruce Wayne, is the end of-"

"Agh!" Batman yelled as he grabbed Joker by the ankle. He watched as Joker tripped and fell off the side of the building.

Dangling off the side of the building as Batman held his ankle, Joker began to laugh. "Ah-hahaha! I done goofed that one, huh!?"

"I _hate_ you..." Batman said.

"End me now, Bats!" Joker ordered.

"No... that won't do any good." Batman said as she slowly began to pull Joker up.

"But it will, Batman! You'd finally have vengeance on your family!" Joker yelled.

"Ghosting you won't mean a thing to them." Batman said as he clenched his jaw in anger.

"That's where your wrong, Batsy! You see... _I'm_ the Red Hood!" Joker yelled out gleefully.

Batman stopped for a moment. Groaning in anger, he continued bringing Joker up. "Lies."

"Not a lie! Before that Pai Zhua Master pushed me into that vat, I was the leader of a crime ring known as the Red Hood! It was Ra's al Ghul's way to slowly have us infiltrate America!" Joker yelled. "We targeted the Wayne family because they were the richest family in America. You know how Ra's loves destroying the status quo! Imagine how much things would've changed had I been able to mow you _all_ down!"

"Shut up!" Batman roared as he pulled Joker onto the roof. "Even if what you say is true, I _won't_ throw you off this roof. I _won't_ let you turn me into _you_! You're right... we're _both_ broken, but... The only thing separating me from you is that I have morals. I won't sink to your level."

Pushing off Joker, Batman pulled himself up to his feet. Leaving the Clown Prince laying on the roof behind him, Batman began to limp away. As he did, Joker jumped up and pulled out a modded gun. It had enough kick to pierce Batman's armor.

"Say goodnight, Brucey! This is the same gun I used to end your parents! I'm now gonna finish what I started! Say hello to your parents for me!" Joker yelled.

Injured, Batman knew he wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time. He slowly turned and stared straight into Joker's eyes, ready for the end of his life.

"Joker!" A voice was heard from across at another building.

Both Batman and Joker turned to see a figure standing in the shadows. "You have failed this city!"

Several arrows flew through the air, sinking into Joker's chest. Blood spurted out of Joker's mouth as he began to laugh.

"Wow... I did _not_ see that coming..." Joker said as he fell backward off the building.

"No!" Batman yelled. He reached forward for Joker, but it was too late. He was gone.

Using a zipline to cross over, the person who shot him made his way to Batman. It was Green Arrow.

"Oliver... What are you doing here?" Batman asked.

"Making sure we don't lose anymore heroes," Arrow answered simply.

"SHIELD is monitoring this area. You're a registered hero, Oliver. Knowing you were here, breaking your agreement... the government will end everything about Oliver Queen," Batman said.

"I know. _We_ know." Arrow said, pointing to another building as Hawkgirl, Agent Venom, and Spider-Girl fought off SHIELD agents. "But we couldn't sit by knowing that the Suicide Squad was going to start ghosting what true heroes remained. Bruce... they got Green Lantern and Spider-Man. I think Ray Palmer is next."

Batman sighed. "This is bad news indeed. I have to get you guys to safety."

"Bruce... you're burned, too. Joker was saying your name during the whole fight. The government knows you are Bruce Wayne," Green Arrow revealed to Batman.

He sighed. "At least Donna and Damian are safe... Okay. We have to go incognito. Meet me at the old Hall of Justice. We'll go from there."

Green Arrow nodded. "I'll tell the others. Are you sure you're okay?"

Sighing, Batman said, "They're just injuries. They'll heal. Good luck, Oliver... and thank you."

"No, thank _you_ for staying true to what I should had five years ago," Green Arrow said. "I just hope it's not too late to fix all this."

"Me, too, Oliver." Batman said as he shot a grappling hook. Using it as a zipline, he moved to a different building, disappearing in the shadows.

Meanwhile, on the roof of another building below, Cupid was leaning over Joker. "No! No!"

"Suh... Sorry for the... bad honeymoon..." Joker said, coughing blood.

"I'll get 'em, Honey! I swear!" Cupid yelled.

"No... no, you can't..." Joker said, pointing to Cupid's stomach. "You gotta... take care of the bun in the oven..."

"What!?" Cupid gasped. "I'm... huh?"

Joker nodded. "It's an old League of Assassins thing... I can feel it."

"But we've been married only a week!" Cupid protested.

Joker shrugged. "What's done is done, Sweetie... Please, raise my kid up... to... get _revenge_!"

Cupid nodded slowly. "I will, my love."

Feeling his body start to seize, he looked up at his crying wife. "Why... why... why so... _serious_!?"

And with that, Joker was gone.

. . .

Zordon of Eltar looked at Alpha 5 from his tube. "Any update from the Magic Realm, Alpha?"

Alpha 5 shook his head. "No, Zordon. They said they are still blocked from being able to cross over from the Magic Realm in large numbers to Earth. The force field blocking the Magic Realm put in place by SHIELD is very strong. We still have no idea where they got such technology!"

Saba sighed. "Zordon... is this the doing of the United Alliance?"

Zordon nodded, looking to Alpha 5 but replying to Saba. "It seems as if the United Alliance of Evil has infiltrated Earth's government. I believe they are trying to erase the group of heroes established here on Earth while also blocking the heroes from the Magic Realm. Since Dark Specter's plan to attack Earth failed five years ago, I believe he is setting things up now for another attack. He needs to ensure Earth's current champions are out of the way, though. He fears me and knows if I have _any_ of my chess pieces still in play that I will be able to defeat him. We must not get complacent, Alpha. We need to stay diligent in ensuring we keep ourselves as strong as possible to stop Dark Specter."

"And what about Nick Fury? Can't you get him to stop hunting the heroes?" Alpha 5 asked.

"No. He is bound by the law of the United States, unfortunately," Zordon replied. "He is doing more than he should already by keeping the identities of the non-registered heroes secret. We have to do things on our own for now. So, Alpha? Have you found _any_ place you can start breaking at the force field blocking the Magic Realm?"

"Yes. There seems to be a weak spot in a forest outside of a small town named Briarwood. I will start chipping away at the force field there," Alpha 5 reported.

"Perfect," Zordon said. "Also, I fear we may need to finish our Power Ranger project. With the Dino Power Coins."

"But we were unable to get the Power Morphers online!" Alpha 5 objected. "Without a power regulator a Human would eventually get destroyed from all the Morphing Energy!"

"Yes, but I actually _do_ have a design that will work now," Zordon said. Focusing, he caused a hologram to appear on the Viewing Globe. It was from his memory: it was the morpher on Burai-A's belt. Zordon had noticed it when he had fought alongside Burai-A when he had morphed into the Ultra Green Ranger. He had noticed the Power Coin in it matched the designs of the Power Coin Burai-B had once used and figured the buckler housing it must have been a Power Morpher.

"This is excellent, Zordon!" Alpha 5 exclaimed. "Where did you find it!?"

"It's a gift from another Timeline," Zordon said. "Now let us get to work on it. I have a feeling that sooner rather than later we will be needing this team of Power Rangers to defend the Earth from a great threat. To meet this threat, we will need a team with a power and a force we've never seen before. A mighty morphing team the likes of which Dark Specter will not be able to defeat!"

. . .

Lieutenant General McKnight walked into the office of General of the Army Rex. GA Rex smiled behind his desk as he watched McKnight enter.

"Please... have a seat." GA Rex said, motioning to the seat before him.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, sir." LG McKnight offered, taking a seat.

"Good." Rex said as he adjusted some items on his desk. "Now, do you know why I called you in?"

"No, sir," McKnight answered.

"Well, earlier today we were able to end the lives of two vigilantes: Spider-Man and Green Lantern. Outside of being unable to secure the Power Ring off the fallen Green Lantern, the Suicide Squad seemed to trigger some... unhappy consequences due to their actions. Several people who had once been Registered Heroes broke their treaty and attacked tonight, saving the life of Batman, attacking Hawkeye, Black Widow, Deadshot, and Cupid, and ending Joker's life. They were also able to convert Agent Venom to their cause," Rex revealed.

McKnight let out a heavy sigh. "That is quite the blow, General Rex."

"Yes, it is," Rex answered. "Thunderbolt Ross and Amanda Waller were over the project. They... no longer are. They've been... _reassigned_ in a way. I need someone better working directly under me. How does a promotion as a four star general sound to you, McKnight?"

Sitting up straighter than he had been before, he nodded. "Yes... Yes, sir. It sounds like something I am ready for."

"Good." Rex said, smiling as he looked over the papers on his desk. "I have _many_ plans which I will need you to supervise. Some of them will only be in effect _decades_ from now. But if you're in this for the long haul, I believe together we could create _a new world order_ , free of the chaos of our current status quo."

McKnight nodded, a solemn look on his face. "I am the man for the job. I guarantee it."

"Good. Now head over to Waller's old base and rearrange the Suicide Squad. You know what? Just end the program. I won't be needing it. We'll just use SHIELD to hunt down the vigilantes," Rex said.

"Should I... _terminate_ the Suicide Squad?" McKnight asked.

Rex chuckled as he shook his head. "My, my... you _are_ the perfect candidate for this job. No, no, that won't be necessary. Just have them shipped back to Arkham. Just get your ducks in a row first, organize SHIELD, and get to work tracking down the vigilantes. Do that until you hear further word from me."

"Sir, yes, sir." McKnight said as he stood up and left the room.

As he did, Rex looked down at his desk. The file on top of his papers read: "Classified - Alphabet Soup". Smiling, he took the folder off the table and went to his safe. Inputting the code into it, he slipped the folder inside and closed it. Returning to his desk, he closed his eyes and just kept smiling, knowing everything was falling into place exactly as he had planned.


	11. 1965: Universal Aftermath

**1965: Universal Aftermath**

 ** _1965 AD - Earth's Magic Realm M54331Z-B_**

Daggeron stared at his machine with great pride. It had worked just like he had hoped it would: it took him from Earth to the Magic Realm and was not blocked by the force field SHIELD had put in place to block travel between the two realms.

He looked down at his modded ticket hole puncher and sighed. It reminded him of his father, Geron. Years ago, after the Battle of Metropolis, Geron had been able to smuggle his family over to Earth to escape the growing political unrest which had occurred in the Magic Realm. Sleeper agents from the United Alliance of Evil had been activated and began to attack with great force. Geron had been lucky enough to find a hole in the force field large enough to get to Earth.

After they had settled on Earth about ten years prior, they noticed they had begun to age normally, being affected by Time according to Earth and not the Magic Realm. Geron had been able to request Zordon to get him some Aquitian Water to help keep them young, but due to their Magical nature it was unable to keep them young, just slow down the aging process.

To be able to make ends meet, and because he had no Earthly higher education, Geron was able to persuade his way into a company as a train conductor. All the while, Daggeron had been able to get enrolled as a transfer student to a high school as a senior using fake credentials from Zordon and Alpha 5 (Zordon justifying it due to Daggeron having the equivalent education from his high school in the Magic Realm). Scoring well in his classes and tests, Daggeron was accepted to Harvard on a scholarship and went into engineering.

With the gifted mind he had (and having done concurrent enrollment during his senior year of high school), Daggeron was able to get a PhD in mechanical engineering in the ten years he had been on Earth. Using everything he learned from his schooling on Earth, coupled with his knowledge of Magic, he had created a schematic for a machine that could breach the fabric of Space and allow him to cross between realms.

His father had been against it. He had yelled and screamed at Daggeron, saying the reason they left the Magic Realm was to escape the war and fighting. Geron was hurt that after all he had sacrificed to keep his family safe, Daggeron wanted to volunteer to return to the fight and do what he could to help defeat the United Alliance of Evil.

Ignoring his father's request, Daggeron had taken residence in the abandoned warehouse district of Angel Grove, a secret facility where Zordon of Eltar kept all his research artifacts. There he had access to the tech and tools he needed to construct his machine. He made it in honor of his father's sacrifice as a train conductor, fashioning it to look like a train. Wanting to honor Zordon as well, Daggeron named it a zord, calling it theSolar Streak Zord. He had schematics to help it convert itself into a megazord as well, but he was going to need more time to get that function operational.

Zordon had asked Daggeron to focus on getting Solar Streak up and running to allow for easy transportation between the realms, in the case either of the worlds were needing the other's help. Knowing Daggeron had also attained the rank of Knight in the Magic Realm, Zordon entrusted Daggeron with some of the tech that was used to create a Samurai Ranger's morpher (since Samurai are to Ninja as Knights are to Wizards). Zordon told Daggeron that his tech may be wanted by the forces of evil and to protect himself creating a morpher that could help him access the Morphing Grid. Zordon knew that Daggeron, as a Knight, had access to an Ancient Mystic form that was truly powerful, but Zordon was aware of Zocato power and feared someone may use it as a weapon against the Magic Realm. To ensure Daggeron could defend himself against such a threat, the morpher he created (which he called a Solar Cell Morpher, modeled after his father's ticket puncher as a train conductor) would allow him access to the Morphing Grid. Going deeper than what Zordon could had even imagined, Daggeron created the morpher so it could simultaneoulsy run on the Universal Morphing _and_ Magic Grids, doubling his power output due to having the Magic Grid take over full power of the morpher when the Morphing Grid tap was recharging and vice versa. The morpher was also able to use an internal battery that was charged by an external power source: the light of a sun.

Having told his friend, Calindor, that he was going to do his first practice to travel between realms, Daggeron was happy to be standing in the Magic Realm once again. He had a bit of Fear that the experiment wouldn't have worked, but knowing his work was successful brightened his mood. That along with the fact he was to see his old friend from high school once again after nearly a decade.

As he stood beside the train in the middle of a clearing outside a forest, Daggeron heard something moving in the foliage near him. Clutching his Solar Cell Morpher tightly, he stayed where he was and peered into the darkness caused by the trees. Something felt... _off_.

"Rwargh!" A massive Dragon roared as several Tenga Warriors and Cogs burst out from the forest.

"Oh, no!" Daggeron yelled as he rolled away from a firebolt the Dragon spat at him.

 _I hope Calindor is okay! They must have intercepted my call to him!_ Daggeron surmised, unaware of the fact that Calindor was an agent of Dark Specter, himself.

"Let me show you lot some _light_!" Daggeron proclaimed. "Solar Cell Morpher! Magical source: Mystic force!"

Stored solar energy erupted from the Morpher as Daggeron punched a Magic Ticket, the totem allowing Daggeron to be able to mix Morphing Energy with Magic. A golden suit of Knight armor appeared around him, a red cape flowing from his shoulders. With solar energy flowing through him, he pointed at his enemies.

"With the power of the sun! Solaris Knight!"

"C'mon, you tin cans! Get him!" The lead Tenga ordered, flying forward to hit Solaris Knight.

Ducking under the Tenga, Solaris Knight rolled forward and punched the first Cog that got in his path. He heard a metal clink as the Cog staggered back.

"What? A _Machine_?" Solaris Knight gasped. "Well, I know how to handle Machines! Yah!"

A magical cloud formed around Solaris Knight. Before the Cogs knew what hit them, they were blasted by lightning bolts from the cloud. Within a matter of moments, all the Cogs had short circuited.

Pointing to a Tenga, Solaris Knight laughed. "I didn't know Dark Specter was going to send me my lunch this early! I guess _fried chicken_ would be great, come to think of it!"

"Let's get outta here! Let the Dragon finish him!" The lead Tenga yelled, leading the way for the fellow bird warriors to follow behind.

At that, the Dragon lunged forward and slashed at Solaris Knight. Knowing that a Knight on his own could not hope to slay a Dragon, Solaris Knight hopped into Solar Streak and began to drive away. He planned on returning to Earth and seeking the help of Batman and his fellow vigilantes. As Solar Streak roared forward, the Dragon latched onto the back of the realm hopping machine and began to try and rip it apart, car by car.

"I don't _think_ so!" Solaris Knight said as he threw Magically charged coal into the train's engine furnace. "We gotta hop dimensions _now_!"

As Solar Streak began to charge to travel to Earth, the Magic hit the Dragon and caused it to lose its grip, falling to the ground hard. Roaring in anger, the Dragon shot several fireballs laced with Black Magic at the train as it flew away. Right as a portal opened for Solar Streak to cross over to Earth, the fireballs hit it and began to mix with the Magic holding the portal open.

"Uh-oh!" Solaris Knight screamed as he felt Solar Streak begin to rock back and forth. Before he could change course, the zord was absorbed into the portal and spat out the other side. He was definitely not on Earth, though.

Before him surrounded by what he could only describe as fractaled light was a floating castle. Curiosity getting the best of him, Solaris Knight parked Solar Streak to the side of the castle and jumped off, landing feet first on the bridge stretched out before the floating castle.

"Where _am_ I!?" Solaris Knight wondered outloud. He figured the Dragon had changed his course to go to another realm, but from what he could gather he wasn't exactly in another realm, but more like standing before a castle that _floated in between realms_.

Standing as tall as he could, Solaris Knight nodded to himself. "Alright, then. Time to figure out where I am..."

. . .

 ** _1965 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

The Cat known as Jenji stared off into the vast ocean of space, his arms tied behind his back. The pirate Halfnose stood behind the Cat, pointing a blade at his back.

"You really don't have to do this...!" Jenji said as his knees were trembling in Fear. "Can't we talk about this!?"

"No can do." Halfnose said, frowning. "King Rexigan is paying me quite a hefty bounty to get rid of you."

"But it's not my fault!" Jenji cried out. "Have you ever heard of the Fear Cats?"

Halfnose nodded. "Of course. Who hasn't?"

"Okay so Mig, Crazar, Benglo, and Cheetar have been running a long con on the man who paid you, King Rexigan. They were filling his mind with fake stuff about me! I'm really a good guy! I was so good, in fact, and _powerful_ that I was standing in between the Fear Cats and the ability to loot my planet, Catmandu!" Jenji attempted to explain. "So, if you let me go I can still save my planet before the Fear Cats ruin it!"

Halfnose shrugged, poking Jenji with his sword to force him to continue walking forward. "Not my problem. I'm getting paid and that's all I care about."

"But... but maybe you could use a cabin cat?" Jenji offered. "I'm really good at cleaning, and I notice you don't have any crew to help you!"

Sighing, Halfnose nodded sadly. "Yeah... Things have been rough ever since the United Alliance of Evil lost many of their fighters on Earth. Having lost so much power, it really affected the economy with villains going solo and leaving the United Alliance, losing faith in Dark Specter. The influx of evil guys on the market made it hard for people like me to make any money. I used to have a mentor onboard named Villamax, but when I decided to take any job just to get paid, he left because it wasn't 'honorable'. But he just doesn't understand, you know!? He'll see! Honor will only take you so far as a pirate! Eventually you'll have to choose between your honor and your life... I need the money to live, so my honor had to take a backseat..."

All the while, Jenji was planning a way he could escape unscathed. Realizing he didn't have much time, he did the first thing that came to mind.

"Ouch!" Jenji said, dropping to a knee. "A splinter! I got a splinter on my foot!"

Halfnose sighed. "Oh, brother. It won't matter soon anyway! Just get up!"

"I can't!" Jenji cried. "Could you please help me!?"

"Oh, for crying out-" Halfnose said as he bent over to help Jenji up. As he did, Jenji performed a frontflip, rolling into a ball as he was in the air and tucking his knees to his chest so he could get his tied arms out from behind him. He then turned and began to sprint at Halfnose.

"Super Cat Attack!"

"Wha-?!"

Jumping into the air, Jenji stretched forth his legs and began to kick wildly at Halfnose's chest, causing him to stagger back several feet as he tried to stay afoot. Then performing a rainbow kick, both of Jenji's feet hit Halfnose's chin, knocking him out.

As Halfnose fell to the deck of the ship face first, Jenji landed. Flexing his muscles, he was able to rip the ropes from off his wrists. He then sighed as he looked around.

"Now what...?" Jenji asked himself as he made his way below deck. He wanted to see if there was anything like a communicator down below to call for help.

Entering a small room, he saw a glowing object on a table. Fascinated, he walked over and touched it. He knew not it was one of the artifacts Lothor had brought over from the Nathadian Universe millions of years prior. It was the God Eye, an artifact with the ability to grant anyone who touches it one wish.

"What is thy wish, Jenji?" The God Eye asked.

"What!? Who said that!?" Jenji demanded.

"The Will of the God Eye shall grant you one wish. What shall it be?"

Scratching his ear, Jenji though long and hard. "Well... I've always wanted to be in a room filled with all the treasure I could ever want..."

"Done."

"Wait!" Jenji gasped. Before he could move, he found himself in a white room. "Where am I?"

. . .

 ** _Castle in Between Realms_**

Solaris Knight wandered the halls for hours, trying to figure out who lived in it and what it was doing in a place that wasn't really a place at all. His mind was reeling with the scientific meaning behind it all.

As he turned a corner, he found himself in what appeared to be a throne room. At the end of the room Solaris Knight found the throne. On it sat a young blonde boy, who seemed to be sleeping.

"Welcome to Castle Oblivion." A woman's voice said from behind Solaris Knight.

Spinning around, Solaris Knight found a young blonde girl standing in the hall behind him. She wore a simple white dress and held a notepad in one hand. She had a warm smile on her face as she looked at Solaris Knight.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Solaris Knight asked.

The girl put her hand up to her mouth, as if to suppress a giggle. "You enter my home uninvited and ask _me_ what I'm doing here? I live here. And you?"

Solaris Knight considered what she said before nodding to himself. "Right... Well, my name is Daggeron. I was attempting to travel between two different worlds and ended up... here."

"My name is Naminé." The young girl offered.

"What is this place?" Solaris Knight asked.

"The remnants of another land, lost in war long ago." Naminé said sadly. "It was converted for the doing of evil, but recently that evil was pushed back. I have been living here ever since. I take care of that young man. His name is Ventus. He is a warrior who got caught in a bad mess and is lost in a deep sleep. Until we can wake him up, I look over him."

"Oh, dear! Anything I can do!?" Solaris Knight asked.

"No, no. I have friends working on it. I thank you for wanting to help, though." Naminé said, smiling her warm smile. "Do not worry, though: I can help you get back home. I assume that's _your_ train out front, right?"

Solaris Knight chuckled. "That'd be mine, yes."

"Well, then. Let's get you back... uh-oh..." Naminé said, suddenly growing concerned.

"What is it!?" Solaris Knight asked.

"Someone else has just entered the castle. How odd..." She said, looking through her notepad. She then began to draw in it.

Looking at what she was drawing, Solaris Knight could see what appeared to be a cat in front of a treasure box. What actually caught his eye, though, was Naminé herself: her eyes were bright white as she drew.

"What's happening!?" Solaris Knight asked.

Stopping her drawing, Naminé looked up to Solaris Knight. As she did, her eyes returned to normal. "A Cat by the name of Jenji has entered this castle because of a wish. The wish was for him to be in a place with all the treasure he could've ever asked for. The wish brought him to a room in this castle, but... that room is where I keep artifacts from missions and... one of those artifacts is a box which infects whoever opens it with Black Energy. Black Energy that will turn whoever is infected by it into a Monster. An _Alpha_ Monster... it would turn that poor Cat into a new breed of Monster and corrupt his mind!"

"Where is the room!?" Solaris Knight asked. "I'll go to him!"

Naminé pointed down the hall. "Three doors down. Please, Daggeron... be careful and stop him!"

As Solaris Knight sprinted away, Naminé looked back to her notepad to finish "reading" what Solaris Knight had not allowed her to finish. She saw Jenji's pain at having lost his friends and being betrayed by King Rexigan. She then saw the true intent of Jenji's wish: the thing he desired most was a true blue friend, and the God Eye had been able to peer through Fate itself and see who would be the best friend Jenji could ever have: Daggeron. Naminé knew not how the first encounter between Jenji and Daggeron would go, but she was certain the God Eye sent Jenji to get a happily ever after.

In the room itself, Jenji saw a pile of jewels. Thinking that was the true answer to his wish, he leapt up in the air for joy.

"I'm _rich_! Look at all this loot!" He exclaimed. "After I sell all this treasure, I can have whatever I _wish_ for! Oh, wow!"

As luck would have it, the very first thing Jenji reached for was the box with the Black Magic suited to turn Jenji into an Alpha. "Something _great's_ gotta be in here! Oh, I wonder what it is. It's pretty heavy, so maybe it's _good_!"

Clearing off some things on the pile, Jenji placed the black box down and sat before it. As he began to prep himself to open it, Solaris Knight rushed into the room.

"Stop! Don't touch that." Solaris Knight warned the Cat.

"What!?" Jenji asked, confused at seeing the gold plated Power Ranger before him.

"That's an _evil_ trap!" Solaris Knight began to explained in a watered down version of what Naminé told him. "If you open it, you'll be lost forever."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna fall for that one." Jenji replied, thinking Solaris Knight to be some sort of pirate wanting to steal the treasure he believed should belong to him. As quickly as he could, he ripped the box open. As he did, Black Energy began to pour out and be pumped into Jenji. "Whoa! Ahhh!"

"Wait! Stop!" Solaris Knight screamed, rushing forward to get to Jenji. As the Cat continued wailing in pain, Solaris Knight stopped because he couldn't get any closer due to the Black Energy. "What have you _done_!?"

"Help me! It's sucking me in!" Jenji cried out as the Black Energy continued to eat away at him. As that occurred, Solaris Knight saw that Jenji was beginning to vanish into the black box.

"That box will finish converting him into an Alpha!" Naminé yelled as she stood in the door. "We can't let it finish him off!"

Solaris Knight nodded. Clutching his Solar Cell Morpher, he pointed it at Jenji and yelled, "Corum gonerare ditrum!"

Suddenly, Jenji flew out of the black box in Spirit form. Naminé stared in surprise as Solaris Knight moved the ball of Spirit matter away from the black box and into a golden lamp which was found among the treasures.

"What did you do?" Naminé asked.

"I did a _very_ strong spell on him. It's a complicated one that only works on Monsters, actually. If a Monster is near death, a strong Magic user can cast the spell I used on it and turn the Monster into a Djinn, or genie, since they are a species of Monster. It was created so that a warrior would be able to take advantage of defeating an enemy to turn it into a resource which could grant wishes." Solaris Knight explained. "Because that black box was turning Jenji into a Monster, I thought it would be worth a shot."

"Okay, so we turn him back now...?" Naminé said to Solaris Knight hopefully.

"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen." Solaris Knight said. "I _may_ be able to reverse the spell... _maybe_. I don't know if I have that much Magic in me, though. It's quite a powerful spell. Even if I did, it would just make it so that whatever is in Jenji, turning him into a Monster, would once again begin to corrupt him and turn him into an Alpha."

"Oh, dear..." Naminé said. "That's horrible..."

"At least like this he'll be safe..." Solaris Knight said. "I'll keep him by me and try to teach him how to live his life as a genie."

"Whoa!" A voice said from the lamp. "What happened!? Where am I!?"

Naminé took a step back as Solaris Knight sat down next to the lamp, lifting off the lid. He then said, "You opened the box-"

"But-"

"-I told you it was evil-"

"But-"

"The only way I could save you was to put you in this lamp." Solaris Knight explained to Jenji. He decided it would be easier for him if he didn't know he wasn't _necessarily_ condemned to the lamp because he didn't want to give him the option of becoming an Alpha Monster.

"Hey, thanks!" Jenji replied sarcastically as he began to stand up, having been sitting inside the lamp. "But I'll be going now."

"No! You can't leave or you'll turn to dust." Solaris Knight told the Cat.

"I can never leave...?" Jenji asked, a wave of terror sweeping over him.

Solaris Knight felt a stab of guilt. The poor guy didn't know what he had been getting himself into. "It's not all bad! You're a powerful genie now! You can grant wishes. I'll protect you and keep you safe."

"But... I wanna get out of here!" Jenji yelled. He then felt Magic gather around him as he jumped up to the lamp's opening, growing a bit as he did. He got frustrated as his large head hit the opening, but couldn't slip out, for he had gotten far too large to fit through the hole.

Looking down at the struggling Jenji, Solaris Knight said, "In time you will learn how to come out, but only for short periods... I'm sorry."

Struggling to fit through the hole, Jenji began to realize the reality of the situation in which he had found himself. "What have I done!?"

"You made a small mistake, but I _know_ everything will work out." Naminé said as stepped forward toward Solaris Knight.

"Who's that!?" Jenji gasped as he turned his bulbous head in Naminé's direction.

"That's the owner of the treasure you tried to take." Solaris Knight said simply.

"Oh... sorry..." He replied as he slinked back into the lamp.

"It's okay." Naminé said into the lamp, smiling. "You didn't know! Now, follow me. I'll show you the way out of here and lead you to your train. I think I can show you how to head back to your world."

After a bit of walking, Solaris Knight was outside Castle Oblivion, staring at the Solar Streak Zord. Naminé wrote something on her notepad and handed it to Solaris Knight.

"If you put those coordinates into your computer, I think you should find yourself back home." Naminé said.

"Fantastic! Thank you so much!" Solaris Knight said as he began to climb into the main car.

"There is one thing, though... Time here is different than your world. Even though you've only been here a few hours, it seems as if nearly _thirty years_ has passed by in your world." Naminé reported sadly.

"What!? No!" Solaris Knight gasped.

"There's nothing I can do... I'm sorry." Naminé said.

Solaris Knight sighed. "It's not your fault... I guess you're not the only one having a bad day, huh, Jenji?"

"You can say _that_ again! First I become a genie, then I find out I lost thirty years of my life! Well, I guess I actually _gained_ thirty years, but I still missed out on everything that happened!" Jenji complained.

"You and me both." Solaris Knight said. "Well, good luck with everything, Naminé! Thank you, and maybe we'll cross paths again sometime!"

As Solar Streak Zord turned on and began to drive away, Naminé smiled and waved goodbye to the duo she had just met. She felt badly for them, losing so much Time, but she was glad that the forces of evil her friends were fighting had not touched their universe. The plague of pure Darkness their foes carried was a real scourge to the small area of the multiverse it affected. She knew her friends could contain it so it didn't affect the Hearts of other universes. At least, she _hoped_ they could...

. . .

 _ **1982 AD - Earth's Magic Realm M54331Z-B**_

Landing outside his old academy, Solaris Knight stepped out of Solar Streak. The building looked like it had definitely aged, and _poorly_. As he looked around, he recognized an older looking Leanbow walking toward him.

"Who are you!?" Leanbow demanded.

Demorphing, Daggeron stood before Leanbow.

"What!? Daggeron!? But... how!? I thought you were destroyed by a Dragon _years_ ago!" Leanbow remarked, running up to Daggeron and hugging him.

"I have a lot to fill you in on, my friend." Daggeron said.

"And I, you!" Leanbow remarked. "Come! The Oracle will be thrilled to see you!"

As they walked up to the academy, the file ended. Rip Hunter's face appeared on the screen as it ended.

"So, inadvertently I have traveled to the future of the Earth I have been monitoring. To not confuse the files, I will end my recording of that event there. It seemed like a good stop, really. I will be returning to the year 1965 to further check what was occurring in the universe after the United Alliance of Evil failed to capture Earth. Also, I feel as if my research is becoming fruitful: I believe the person who is in the Hall of Legends right now is Sam, the Future: Omega Ranger. I'm very curious to know why he is there and why my superiors here at Time Force are not telling me _why_ he's there. Oh, well. Rip Hunter, over and out."

. . .

 _ **1965 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

King Mondo watched from his space station as his rival, King Aradon, had his forces swarm a planet. They were finishing the last wave before being able to take the planet for themselves.

"This is _ridiculous_!" King Mondo shouted. "Since _when_ has our Machine Empire taken a back seat to _Aradon_!?"

A short Machine, looking like a child robot, bounced up and down as he spoke. He was Prince Sprocket, the replacement child after Prince Gasket defected to Aradon's Machine Empire to wed Aradon's daughter, Archerina. Queen Machina and King Mondo ordered all under them to disavow any knowledge or mention of Gasket ever having been a member of the Royal House of Gadgetry. They acted and spoke as if Sprocket was their first and only child.

"Well, Dad... Maybe it's because we're taking orders from Dark Specter still." Sprocket suggested.

"Brilliant, my dear boy!" Mondo announced. "Dark Specter keeps giving all of the good missions to Aradon."

"Exactly." Machina said. "And why are we still following him, anyway?"

"That is a good point, your highness." Klank said, bowing before them. "After that debacle on Earth, Dark Specter has shown he is no match for Zordon. If we continue following him, we are sure to fall _with_ him."

"It's settled, then!" King Mondo declared. "We begin our plans to secede from the United Alliance of Evil. Klank? Orbus? Begin making enough Quadra Fighters to help us be our own independent body. We must take our time when doing this, though. If we rush our departure we risk being crushed by Dark Specter."

"But of course, my love." Machina agreed.

"Soon, my family... soon we will leave the United Alliance of Evil and swarm the universe with our unparalleled might!" King Mondo cried out. "We are the Machine Empire, and _nothing_ will hold us down!"

. . .

Dark Specter sat at his command station on the Dark Fortress. As he did, Master Vile came to him.

"Speak." Dark Specter said.

"While cleaning out some rooms on the station, Deviot and I found some old files from Bansheera here on the Dark Fortress." Master Vile said. "They speak of a prophecy that a child shall come forth from a group called Alphabet Soup, if you recall that program from Bansheera's tenure during Project White Genesis. This child will rise from the forces of evil and lead the way to victory, my master."

Dark Specter nodded slowly. "Interesting... Anything else?"

"Yes, sir. The child in question, according to prophecy, will be kidnapped from their home and and raised by the leader of the most powerful force of evil in the universe. The documents indicate that _many_ powerful leaders are prophesied to come from the group, but only _one_ will be the chosen leader to tip the scales of the fight between good and evil. The other children from the program will only serve to build the leader up." Master Vile revealed. "Divatox and my own children, Rito Revolto and Rita Repulsa, are among the alumni of Bansheera's program, sir. I knew of Alphabet Soup, but I didn't know what it's origin was until now."

"Interesting..." Dark Specter said. "Okay, then. I want this program up and running again. Every bit of power I can have is needed. Especially after we lost so much power in that battle against Earth's heroes ten years ago... I cannot afford to let the Wizard Zordon have any advantages over me!"

"Yes, sir, Dark Specter." Master Vile said, leaving the room.

"Soon the universe will be _mine_!" Dark Specter roared. "Mark my words, Zordon of Eltar... I am coming for your precious Earth _soon_. And when I do, you will _not_ survive! On my word, when I next attack Earth, Zordon _will_ fall!"


	12. 1971: The Special Agent

**1971: The Special Agent**

 _ **1971 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

"Ernie Finestein... Born 1953. Star linebacker for Michigan State. 4.0 GPA out of high school, from which you graduated a year early. Runs a four flat forty yard dash, benches four hundred fifteen pounds, squats six hundred pounds, and deadlifts eight hundred pounds. Did I miss anything?" General McKnight asked as he stared at the young man at attention before him.

"Sir, no sir!" Ernie replied seriously.

"Good... Jon Myers?" McKnight said, looking at the man beside Ernie. "Born 1950 and is supposedly the best sharpshooter in the world."

"That's right, sir," Myers replied.

"Okay, then." McKnight said as he turned and sat at his desk in his office. "You two will be trained by two of my best agents in the CIA. Agent Alfred Worth and Agent Spencer Hawkins."

Alfred and Spencer made their way into the room as they heard their names. Alfred looked at the two before him and nodded.

"Well, Spencer... It appears as if we have two with potential," Alfred said.

Spencer nodded. "I would have to agree. But... Let me ask you two: why did you decide to sign up for the CIA?"

Myers smiled. "For me? I know I have a gift, but I want to put it to good use."

"I'm always feeling like I could be doing something... _great_. I mean, football is fun and all, but I don't feel like I'm contributing to society," Ernie replied. "I want to see if this is my calling in life."

"Well, then... the CIA is the right place for you." Alfred said, turning to McKnight. "I accept them as my pupils."

"And so do I," Spencer replied.

"Then the trial by fire begins now," McKnight said. "You already have the mission. Take the two rookies and put them to good use. We can't have the escapee from Roswell cause anymore _fiascos_."

Ernie cocked an eyebrow. "Roswell, New Mexico? As in Area 51?"

Spencer smiled. "My dear boy... there's a lot you need to be filled in on."

. . .

Ernie and Myers sat in the private jet, feeling uncomfortable due to the luxury. Neither of them had come from "rich" families, and knowing they were on a dangerous mission only made the accommodations seem more _bizarre_.

Ernie rifled through the folder once again, looking through the files as he did. Spencer and Alfred had explained to them that a Shapeshifter had crashed back in 1947 and had been the catalyst to create what the media had dubbed "Area 51". A few months prior to their current time, the Shapeshifter had escaped Area 51 and was traveling around the world. The intel they had been able to gather pointed to the fact that the Shapeshifter was going around the world, gathering specific metals and ores. The same materials that her ship had seemed to be made of. She was apparently trying to get home.

"Shame, huh?" Myers said to Ernie, knocking him out of his trance. "It seems like she may only want to leave our planet."

"Can't think like that," Ernie said. "Not after what happened to Metropolis. She may be trying to get her superiors info on how to conquer us. I mean, we don't need another Zod or Sinestro running around here, ya know?"

"Exactly." Alfred said as he sat down, wearing a tuxedo.

Spencer came in as well, also in a tuxedo. "Our global security must stay intact, regardless of this alien's intent. We just can't be too careful..."

"What's up with the fancy threads?" Myers asked, lifting up his cowboy hat as if to look at the tuxedos with greater appreciation.

"We have tracked the Shapeshifter down. She is currently at a gala in Paris. The owner of the mansion she's in owns a very rare metal that is all but extinct outside of SHIELD labs: adamantium. It's obviously why she's there," Alfred reported.

"Having gotten ourselves invited, we are going to try and get close to her," Spencer continued. "Myers will be our sharpshooter should things go awry."

"What about me?" Ernie asked, nervous and excited all at the same time.

"You're the muscle. Her strength was tested by Dr. Kaplan at Area 51 and she is _very_ strong. Once we get her out of the building, that's your cue," Alfred told the rookie agent.

Nodding, Ernie said, "I'll do my best."

He was feeling very nervous. He'd never felt this nervous before, not even for pivotal sport games. This was the real deal for him, and he knew he had to give it his best. Not only for the future of his career, but also for the security of the entire planet.

. . .

Ernie sat in a van outside the mansion, across the street. He watched via monitors the images projected from the mini cameras attached to Alfred and Spencer's tuxedo ties. He clutched the armrests of his beaten down leather swivel chair as he watched the two secret agents.

"I'm in range..." Spencer said.

"I'll take a step back, then. Observe." Alfred whispered into his comm as he went to look over the appetizers.

"Why, hello miss. I couldn't help but notice you are here alone, not dancing, and with no wedding ring on your finger." Spencer said to the Shapeshifter, winking.

The Shapeshifter gave Spencer a courtesy giggle. She was on a mission and didn't have time for idle chit-chat. "Oh, why yes. I'm single, but you know how it is... Now if you'll excuse me, I-"

"Oh, yes I do. I, too, am single. Why... you are the most beautiful woman here. May I be so bold as to ask you for a dance?" Spencer asked.

The Shapeshifter pursed her lips. "I'm sorry, but I can't right now. Rain check, perhaps?"

"Sheesh, for an alien she sounds pretty Human to me..." Ernie said into the microphone.

"Yeah, but that's why she's so dangerous," Myers replied from his perch across the street from the mansion, but from a different angle than Ernie's. "Who's to say that's even her real form, huh?"

" _I_ am, and that is her real form," A new voice said over the comm.

"Who's there!? This is a secured line!" Ernie said.

Laughing, Alfred shook his head and whispered, "That's Dr. Kaplan. We asked him to listen in, in case we needed some insights."

One of the monitors hummed to a new life as Dr. Kaplan's visage showed itself to Ernie. He wore a white lab coat and glasses as he stared at Ernie.

"Now, please be careful with her," Kaplan said. "She is a very nice person and I wouldn't want to hear she got hurt."

"We'll try..." Alfred replied.

"From my interviews with her, I learned she is very homesick," Kaplan continued. "She will do _anything_ to get back home."

The Shapeshifter frowned when she saw Spencer wasn't going to leave her side. "I'm sorry, sir, but I really am in a hurry."

"Oh, but... I don't even know your _name_ , miss. You mustn't leave me without at least giving me a name!" Spencer declared.

The Shapeshifter hadn't planned on speaking to anyone at the party and hadn't come up with an alias. Looking around the room quickly at random objects on the paintings on the walls, she replied, "Apple... bee... Appleby."

"Miss Appleby, eh?" Spencer said, mulling it over in his mind. "What a fabulous name it is. Please, Appleby... just _one_ dance."

Furrowing her brow, she gently pushed Spencer to the side. "No, sir. Now please, let me go on."

Spencer sighed. "I guess I must, then. Please let me know if you change your mind."

As he gave her a goodbye hug, he attached a tracking device onto her dress. Walking toward Alfred, he sighed.

"Nice try, Casanova." Spencer said, drinking some apple juice as his partner approached.

"I guess I'm getting rusty..." Spencer said, half-jokingly. "But, we should be able to track her now."

"I got 'er," Ernie said. "She's in the east wing. If you guys go left from where you are down the hall, then enter the second door on your left, you will be right under her."

"Perfect," Alfred said as the two CIA agents made their way to the location Ernie had given them.

"Please remember to be gentle with her..." Kaplan reminded them over their comms. "Karé is very fragile mentally."

"That's her name?" Ernie asked.

"Yes. Yes, it is," Replied Kaplan.

"We'll do all we can, good doctor." Alfred said to the worried man as they entered the room. "Spencer, would you do us the honor?"

"But of course." Spencer said as he pulled out of his tuxedo jacket what appeared to be a small gun. He pointed it at the ceiling and shot a laser from it. Within moments he had cut a hole in the ceiling.

"Easy does it!" Alfred said as he ran toward the hole. In a matter of moments he had leapt atop a cabinet in the room and shimmied his way up the hole.

As Spencer went to follow, he heard a crash. Racing up the hole, he saw Appleby holding Alfred up by the throat.

"Who are you, Hunters!?" Appleby asked, panicked.

"Hunters are intergalactic Monster hunters," Kaplan explained.

"No... no, I'm a Human," Spencer said. "So is he. We are from the CIA."

Frowning in disgust, Appleby chucked Alfred at Spencer. "I'm not going back to that cage in New Mexico!"

Spencer jumped up and caught Alfred mid air. The two tumbled to the ground as Appleby gave up on secrecy and grabbed the adamantium from it's protective plate. An alarm went off immediately.

"Myers! East windows!" Spencer cried out as he helped Alfred onto his feet.

Doing as Spencer had predicted, Appleby leapt out the window. As she did, Myers began to fire at her.

"Be careful!" Kaplan implored.

"She attacked an agent, Doc. I'm gonna do what I can to bring her in," Myers said coldly.

"She's scared!" Kaplan protested.

"And she's also hit," Myers reported as he saw the bullet sail into her leg. "Geez, she's strong and fast. She's still going!"

"You're up, Finestein." Alfred said to Ernie as he and Spencer tried to slip out of the party without being questioned by the guards.

"Hey! You two! Freeze!" A guard yelled.

Smirking, Spencer turned to Alfred. "We need to do field missions more often."

Leaping at a guard and disarming him, Alfred smiled. "Ah... just like old times."

Meanwhile, Myers spat as he began losing sights on Appleby. "Ernie!? I'm losing her, man!"

Having already left the van, Ernie was sprinting down the streets of Paris as fast as he could. "Don't worry: I see her! She's not getting away!"

Clenching her jaw, Appleby turned to see Ernie speeding toward her. Knowing the bullet in her leg was going to slow her down and get her caught in a foot race, she decided to go the acrobatic route. She jumped onto a cart nearby and leapt forward, catching a fire escape ladder at the side of a building. Moving with extreme speed she began to make her way up the fire escape.

"Well, I'm glad I trained at that ropes course earlier this year..." Ernie grumbled as he began to follow her.

After a few minutes, Ernie found himself on a roof. He could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Silhouetted against the sky on the roof was another sight: Appleby. She was breathing hard, clutching at her leg.

"Okay, okay!" She yelled. "You got me!"

Ernie slowly walked toward her. "We don't wanna hurt you..."

"Ha!" Appleby said. "Tell that to my leg!"

"You attacked an officer. We had to subdue you..." Ernie tried to explain.

Frowning, Appleby shook her head. "Whatever. Just get me back to Kaplan. He's the only one of you Humans who knows my physiology. I trust him to patch me up."

"We'll need the adamantium back, too. It's not yours." Alfred said as he and Spencer made their way up and over the ledge onto the roof.

"And I got the jet coming over to you guys right now," Myers said from aboard the jet. "And a clean up crew will pick up the van."

"Not bad for a rookie. Thank you kindly," Spencer said.

Alfred nodded. "To _both_ of you. I suppose I should congratulate you both. You're both now bonafide CIA agents. Welcome."

. . .

Dr. Kaplan, Alfred, Spencer, Ernie, and Myers stood at attention before General McKnight. They had been surprised to hear after landing at Area 51 that McKnight was there already, waiting for them.

"Congratulations to you all," McKnight said. "You made quite the team out there. That is actually why I wished to see you all in person. Alfred?"

Nodding, Alfred stepped forward. "I was undercover for the past few decades serving as Bruce Wayne's butler. I was called back in last year from that assignment to help with a _new_ assignment. You see... McKnight is assembling a team for a very special type of mission. He hasn't disclosed its details yet, but he told me what he was looking for. Spencer, old friend... you fit the bill to lead this team _perfectly_."

Spencer furrowed his brow. "What team?"

"This team here. Ernie and Myers will be your pupils, and Dr. Kaplan will provide you all with the psychology and medicine in his massive brain." Alfred continued, winking at Kaplan during the final part of his phrase.

"What about you, Alfred?" Myers asked.

Alfred smiled. "I've been looking over all the potential agents and rookies since last year so I could go back to my post as Mr. Wayne's bodyguard. What with that vigilante Batman still running around, he's gonna need me back. The current bodyguard he has is okay, but to keep my cover he just thinks that I'm on an extended vacation. By his side is my actual post. I was just here long enough to make sure Spencer was ready, and equipped with the team he needs. And you _are_ ready my friend. We were partners years ago, and this past year being beside you again was fantastic. Our government is lucky to have you."

Spencer was still taken aback by the sudden revelation of why he had been paired with Alfred again over the past year. He had no inkling of any of this being the case, and even though Alfred was _saying_ he was ready, it didn't feel like it to him.

McKnight stepped forward once again. "Also, Spencer, there will be yet another person on your team."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? Who?"

"I believe you know her more affectionately by the name of 'Appleby'?" McKnight said, smiling.

"What? Why?" Kaplan demanded. Seeing the look on McKnight's face, he quickly straightened up and added a "sir" at the end.

"Because she can get us in and out of places quite easily," McKnight revealed.

"Why would she help us, sir? And why should we trust her?" Spencer asked, concerned.

The smile on McKnight's face seemed to get broader due to the question. "Don't worry about that. I have it covered. Now, if there are no other questions..."

"When do we start? What do we do?" Ernie asked.

"Meet me in Angel Grove tomorrow," McKnight said. "I'll debrief you there."

"California?" Myers asked. "Why Angel Grove, sir?"

"You'll see. Dismissed until tomorrow at 0800 hours," McKnight said as he left the team behind.

As he left, Alfred patted Spencer and the shoulder. "You'll do fantastically."

Spencer sighed. "Oh, how I hope so."

. . .

McKnight sat in the room as he saw "Appleby", the Shapeshifter, strapped to the surgery table. She was unconscious and a lone doctor was the one operating on her.

"Okay, Dr. Harlen. Are you almost done?" McKnight asked.

"Please, General... I'm all alone. I'm going as fast as I can!" Harlen said, complaining. "Implanting the bomb from the Suicide Squad into her brain is very tricky, especially since she's not even Human!"

McKnight nodded. "You know... when I found out you had become a surgeon by the age of sixteen, I was impressed. Perhaps your age is actually slowing you down. Perhaps I should find someone else to-"

"No, please!" Harlen gasped. "I'll... I'll get it done! Within the hour, I promise!"

McKnight smiled as he got up. "That's much better. She's my special agent, and I'm glad I have your guarantee that she will be fully under my control."

Leaving the room, McKnight made his way to an office of one of the lieutenants based there at Area 51. Dialing the rotary phone he called General of the Army Rex, his boss and the man pulling all the strings.

"Is it done?" Rex asked as soon as he picked up the phone.

"The Shapeshifter is being operated on as we speak. She will join the Angel Grove team tomorrow. She will be told that if she utters anything to anyone about the bomb in her brain, we'll detonate it," McKnight informed Rex.

"Good," Rex answered. "And how do you feel about the team."

"Well, with what little you told me about Alphabet Soup, I see them as being the leaders you'll need," McKnight said.

"Good. That will be all. Report to me tomorrow after you debrief the team." Rex said.

"Sir, yes, sir," McKnight said as he heard Rex hang up. He then placed the phone back onto its receiver and turned to look out the window of the office. "I am an agent of my country, and whatever I am asked to do for it, I _will_ do it. Soon Alphabet Soup will be up and running, and then the world will never be the same..."


	13. 1976:The Ninja, the Samurai, & the Thief

**1976: The Ninja, the Samurai, and the Thief**

 _ **1976 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Miko Watanabe arrived on US soil, clutching her heirloom with one hand as it draped around her neck. As she did, one of the flight attendants motioned for her to make her way over to the building entrance from the airplane. With her single carryon bag, she did as she was asked.

After going through customs, Miko wandered out to the sidewalk outside the airport. People were busy going to and fro, many attempting to get taxis so that they could get to business meetings they were afraid they'd be late for. Miko herself did not have any specific time to go to where she needed. She just knew she had to get there and make a good impression.

"First time in Blue Bay Harbor?" A man asked while leaning against his taxi.

Miko nodded. "Yes, it is."

"Where you from, little lady?"

"Japan. I just arrived."

"Wow! You speak perfect English!"

Miko smiled. "Yes, well I have a lot of business with people here in California that I have to deal with. English is a necessity of the business."

"Oh, yeah?" The man asked, skeptical of her claims. She wasn't dressed in the normal attire of a businesswoman. She looked more like someone who would divine fortunes (in the opinion of the cab driver living in the United States in the late 1970s). "What sort of business?"

 _What do I say?_ Miko asked herself. _I can't go and say, "Oh, I was a back-up Samurai Power Ranger in my homeland, and I learned English to be able to communicate with the Guardians of the Tengen Gate and also on occasion with Zordon of Eltar. Oh, you've never heard of Zordon? He's a giant floating head in a tube. He lives a few miles from here in your very own state, over in Angel Grove! Oh, did I mention he's actually in secret running all of Angel Grove from behind the scenes with the help of SHIELD? Oh, I didn't! Well, there you go! Never heard of Samurai Power Rangers? Oh, that's because we fight the evil Nighlok in secret! Never heard of a Nighlok? Why, they live underground in a thing called the Sanzu River, a noxious fluid that could destroy the entire planet if we don't stop the Nighlok from trying to flood us all!_

Smiling, Miko replied, "I'm a trainer of karate."

"Ah, explains the threads ya' wearin'!" The cab driver said. "Can I give ya' a ride?"

Miko shook her head. "I'm okay. Where I'm going is not far from here."

"You sure?"

"Most definitely. Thank you, though!"

As he said goodbye, she turned and made her way out of the airport area and toward her target: Blue Bay Harbor's secret Ninja Academy.

Cutting into a forest area, Miko thought about everything that had caused her to get to the point where she had left the Samurai Rangers. She thought about how the Samurai Ranger's mentor, her father (and the former Pink Samurai Ranger before passing his powers down to Miko's brother, Aki) had been training them and the rough conditions she had to live under, trying to prove she could be a ranger. She thought about the latest Nighlok incursion, and how many rangers had almost lost their lives during the final battle, and how one actually _did_ lose his life. The ranger who had lost his life was Yuki, the Green Ranger. After a process of going through the family tree (since Yuki had no offspring), the Guardians had determined that the next in line would be Miko herself, since the Watanabe family had been wedded to the house of the Green Ranger in the past and their bloodlines were mixed (for example, had Miko's brother Aki been born before her uncle Yuki, then Aki would have been the Pink Ranger and Yuki the Green).

Day in and day out, they never knew when the next Nighlok invasion would be. Some generations of Samurai Rangers never had to deal with Nighlok at all, while her own generation had just handled their fourth attack. Miko was stressed due to this. Although she had always trained with the Samurai Rangers due to her father being the mentor, she felt scared that she may not be up to snuff to fill the hole in the team that was left behind. She felt that she needed some time to herself to gain confidence, so she sent a request for some leave, for personal time. The Guardians had deliberated Miko's request and had decided that, especially with how hard the Nighlok had been attacking, it would be good for the rangers to take a break if needs be. Of the five rangers she was the only one who had decided to leave. Before she left, to make her morpher more inconspicuous, she transferred her Samurai Symbol power to a family heirloom her father had given her, which was passed down from generation to generation.

She had heard tales of the great Ninja Academies and how they were training up young warriors to defend the entryways to places known as the Afterlife for Monsters. The closest one to her was the one in Blue Bay Harbor, so she decided to head toward that one. Her reasoning for going there was simple: she wanted to stay in shape by learning a different approach to Martial Arts. She thought that if perhaps she learned how to channel her inner Elemental Spirit that she could be of more power as a Samurai Ranger, being able to use the Elemental Spirit if her morph ever failed her (which was known to happen against the likes of Master Xandred).

As she found her way through the forest, she could _feel_ the Academy near her. She then clutched her amulet and said softly: "Go, go Samurai..."

Morphing into the Green Samurai Ranger for the first time, she was exhilarated. The feeling of power coursing through her was something she had never experienced before and she loved it. Breathing out slowly, she approached what looked like a lake pool. Feeding the pool was a waterfall against a mountain, but she knew better. She could _feel_ the power of Ninja calling to her. She knew it was the secret entrance to the Wind Ninja Academy.

Miko knew that although the particular Academy she had chosen specialized in the art of Wind, all sorts of specialties were taught there. As the Green Ranger thought about what her own Elemental Spirit might be, she heard ruffling behind her. Turning, she saw a member of the Academy Guard standing there, blue highlights on his uniform. He was a user of the Water Element.

"Wow! A Samurai Ranger!" He gasped. "You should mee the Captain of the Guard, Kanoi!"

She shook her head, using Morphing Energy to modify how her voice sounded to not let him know she was a woman. She could only hope he wasn't observant enough to not the skirt on her Samurai uniform. "No, just take me to your sensei, please."

"Anything for a Power Ranger!" The excited Water Guard said. He led her to the water and activated a portal.

Stepping through, the Green Ranger found herself staring at what the mountain was hiding: a doorway to the Magic Realm. Through the research left behind by Daggeron (who was at that time stuck in Castle Oblivion with Jenji, due to Time going by very slowly there) the Magic Realm had been able to create small portals to allow access between the dimensions. Access which General McKnight had been trying to force SHIELD into cutting off.

As she walked through the grassy grounds, the Water Guard stopped as he presented the Green Ranger to the sensei of the Wind Academy, Sensei Lyn.

"Sensei Lyn, I-"

"Yes, I felt the ranger already..." Lyn said. "You may leave us."

As he left, Green Samurai said, "I wish to enroll into your Academy. I want to know what my Elemental Spirit is to become a better fighter."

Lyn frowned. "But you will not be able to use your Elemental Spirit as a Samurai. As a Samurai you use Symbol Power. Elemental Spirit will destroy your connection to your Samurai powers."

Demorphing, Miko stepped forward. "I want to do this to become more versatile. I don't need to be a ranger at all times to be able to fight."

Lyn smiled as he saw her courage and determination. "Perfect. I was curious to know whether or not your ranger powers would interfere with your humility. If you see there, you will see a tent.

From now on it is yours. There is a test uniform in there. Since we do not know what your Elemental Spirit is, you will have no color until you are assigned one. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sensei," Miko answered, trying not to show her excitement.

"Good, now hurry. We will start the initiation for new students in one hour. You chose the right day to come, miss...?"

"Watanabe. Mike Watanabe."

"Interesting... I have a pair of students here, brothers, with that same last name. Distant relatives, most likely?" Lyn said.

"Maybe. The Watanabe family came from Ninjas before we became a part of the Pink and Green Ranger legacy of Samurai."

"Well, either way you should hurry. We start soon."

. . .

Miko wasn't stupid. She knew that the Wind Ninja Academy had never allowed a girl into their ranks. It was a sexist tradition, but a tradition nonetheless. She knew she was being made the exception because of her ties to the Samurai Rangers, but she didn't care. The reasoning wasn't as important to her, but the end results were. She hoped she would be the first of many females to go through the Wind Academy for years to come.

Knowing she was being _different_ and rocking the boat was still clear in her mind. She made sure that when she joined the general assembly of students waiting for Sensei Lyn to start the ceremony, she would be stared at due to being the first and only girl to be in their midst. She had put her test uniform's helmet mask up to protect her identity.

As she did, a young man in a yellow Earth uniform joined up to stand next to her. He had decided to get close to her because he could feel something different coming from her. He didn't know that feeling was the power emanating from her Samurai Amulet.

"Hey! Name's Kiya Watanabe. I'm kinda the cool kid around these parts. And you are...?"

Miko lowered her voice and answered. "They call me Watanabe as well..."

"Oh, cool! You from around here!?"

Before she could answer, Sensei Lyn's came from the stage before them saying, "Students, stand at ease."

As all the students came to attention, Lyn nodded. "In the tradition of the Wind Ninja Academy, we must welcome our new students with a demonstration. Our best fighter, Kanoi, will demonstrate the sword techniques of the Wind Ninja."

Miko looked to see the young Ninja, Kanoi, knelt down with a wooden practice sword in hand. He stood up as Lyn left the stage and unsheathed the sword. With great technique he began to demonstrate why he was the best fighter at the school. Miko was in awe with how good he was, and how effortlessly he moved.

"Kanoi talks tough, but he can be beaten. I should know..." Kiya said, smirking. He noticed how Miko's eyes were stuck on Kanoi, his twin brother, and was wanting to draw some of that attention away due to jealousy.

"I'm sure with how close you two must be as twins, you are quite the fighter yourself..." Miko whispered.

"Yeah, yeah... but lucky for me I got all the personality in the family. Kanoi just got the good looks." Kiya said, winking. He knew that since they were identical that he had just complimented himself and said he had personality, whereas his brother did not.

As Kanoi ended his demonstration by cutting a straw pillar in half with his training sword, Lyn stepped up again. "For the next part of our demonstration we'll need a volunteer."

Stepping into the crowd, Lyn began to look each student down. It was just for show, though. He knew exactly who he wanted: Miko. It was a win-win situation for him. Either Kanoi beat Miko and proved to himself that he is an amazing fighter and that his hard work had paid off, or Miko would beat him and force Kanoi into wanting to train harder to become better. From whichever outcome would be the first woman integrated into the Academy. Even if Miko lost, Lyn was certain she would give Kanoi a run for his money and perform better against him than anyone else (save for Kiya) could, thus earning her way into the Academy without any major complaints from the student population.

Stopping before Miko, Lyn handed her a practice sword. She bowed as she accepted it, her heart racing at a million miles per hour.

"But Sensei, this is a new student. The fight is unfair." Kanoi pointed out as he stood in his red Wind Ninja attire. He was afraid Lyn had made a mistake which could lead to a new student getting injured.

Lyn ignored his request by saying, "We shall see. You may begin."

Miko made her way up the stage, her legs feeling like heavy bricks. As she did, Kanoi turned slightly irritated to face her. He had been hoping to have a great fight to impress the new students, but now he would have to hold back to not hurt his opponent. What irritated him most was the fact that he would not be able to show off with some of his fancier moves.

Standing before Kanoi, Miko bowed. He did so in return. Kanoi then put his "blade" out before him, with a reverse grip. Miko went into her base stance that she had been taught at the Shiba Home, leaving her sword sheathed. They then began to circle each other. As they did, with Kiya watching intently, Miko unsheathed her sword. Kanoi then lunged forward, ready to strike at her to end the battle quickly. He figured that if he couldn't wow the crowd with expert moves, he could at least wow them with how quick he could take his opponent down.

 _Wow... what a sloppy lunge... Our Red Ranger would never do something so careless!_ Miko thought as she expertly dodged the attack.

Slashing again, Kanoi fell to a knee as he lost his balance, Miko quickly turning back to point her sword at him.

 _Interesting... the new kid has some game!_ Kanoi thought happily as he eyed his opponent.

Awaiting Kanoi's next move, Miko put her sword back into its sheath, staying in a square stance. She was glad she did, for right then Kanoi leapt forward and did a double spin attack. Had she had her sword out still, she probably would have tried to parry him, which is what he was wanting her to do. Irritated it hadn't worked, Kanoi lunged his sword forward to jab her in the gut, missing and hitting the hilt of her sword.

Capitalizing on his mistake, Miko pulled out her sword as it hit her hilt and slashed up. The momentum of the movement caused Kanoi's retreat to become greatly exaggerated, flying clear to the other side of the fighting ring, out into the crow of students and onto his back. Amazed with herself that she had done so well, she smiled behind her mask. Awaiting the next attack, she stayed in her stance and put her sword away. As she did, the students stayed at both her and the fallen Kanoi in amazement. Kiya more so than anyone else.

 _Oh, wow... he's a_ _samurai_ _! That technique! I wonder if it has any connection to that amulet he has..._ Kiya thought to himself as he nodded slowly, happy to see his "perfect" brother humbled.

Kanoi got up with Rage. He had never before been so humiliated in a fight. Tapping into his Wind Spirit, he twirled through the air, hoping to mercilessly slash at Miko and drop her instantly upon contact. As he twirled, Miko calmed herself and could suddenly see past his speed at each rotation Kanoi's body did in the air. At just the right time, she pulled out her sword and blocked the attack. Kanoi was shocked.

Miko then aimed her blade at Kanoi's ankles, tripping him. She pointed her blade at his neck to imply that she could had ended everything right then and there. She then put her sword back into its holder and stepped on Kanoi's hand, stopping him from going further with any attack.

"Excellent, Miko!" Lyn said, stepping forward to stop the match.

As she let him go, Kanoi began to crawl away on his hands and feet to stand at attention. "Miko!? That's the name of a girl!"

 _Oh, yes! Even better!_ Kiya thought happily.

At that, Miko felt the opportunity was right to reveal who she really was. She pulled off her mask before everyone.

"He's a she. I mean, she's a girl!" Kanoi gasped.

Lyn smiled. "That seems fairly obvious. Kanoi? Meet you victor: Miko."

She bowed as Kanoi began to stammer. "But her sword work... it's not the Wind Ninja way."

"Very observant," Miko said, wanting to show everyone that she was not afraid to speak. "I was trained as a samurai by my father."

"Sensei, this school's bound by tradition. There are no women allowed here!" Kanoi said. A part of him was hoping she would go away so that he wouldn't have to prove himself to her again in the future.

Kiya smiled. "Why? Are you afraid of a girl? Maybe our traditions need to be changed..."  
 _I just need to get on her good side to get to that amulet..._ He thought, smiling to himself more than the crowd laughing at his latest wisecrack.

"Oh, you like breaking the rules, don't you brother? I know what you get up to in your free time..." Kanoi said, eyes burning into Kiya for adding onto his humiliation.

Kiya sneered. He couldn't believe his brother had said what he said. "Watch what you say, brother! One shouldn't make accusations without proof to back them up!"

Kanoi sighed in anger. He knew he didn't have any proof of what he was _certain_ he had seen. And even if he had, he wasn't sure if he'd give Kiya up. If he had proof of what he knew Kiya had been doing, he knew Kiya would be expelled from the Academy and also his name wiped from the Watanabe family tree. He didn't want to see things go to those extremes. He had said what he had said out of anger, not a desire to have Kiya expelled.

"Enough!" Lyn cried out, not wanting to take the moment away from Miko. "This student has displayed impressive skills and will be allowed to enroll here as the first female in the school's history."

As Lyn said this, Kanoi's mind was filled with Rage and confusion. Not only had he been beaten, but he had been beaten by a _new student_. Not only had he been beaten by a new student, but said new student was also _a girl_. Fuming, he made his way out of the arena. He bumped shoulders with Kiya in anger as he left.

"Thank you, sensei." Miko said, bowing before Lyn. She then turned and bowed before the students, a sign of gratitude that they had allowed her into the school.

As she bowed, her Samurai Amulet fell out of her shirt, where it had been tucked in. Kiya watched it greedily, feeling the Green Morphing Energy and also Samurai Symbol Power emanating from it. _I_ _must_ _have that amulet! It will be mine! It's power will be what I need to become the man who I know I am to become!_

 _. . ._

 _ **Magic Realm of Earth M54331Z-B**_

Miko was out a few hours later, practicing by herself in the woods. She stopped suddenly, feeling someone behind her. Turning, she found herself face to face with Kiya.

He smirked. "Please... don't stop."

She slowly put her practice sword away. She didn't think a fellow student would be of any danger to her. As she did, he leaned forward and began to stare at her amulet as it had fallen out of her shirt again.

"The pendant... it's beautiful! May I?" He asked, stretching out a hand as if to take it.  
Not wanting there to be any problems with her morpher, she clutched at it unconsciously. "I'm sorry. It's a family heirloom. You understand."

Putting a fake look of understanding on his face, he nodded. "Of course."

He could see her clutching at it as if it was very important. That told him all he needed to know. It _was_ connected to her samurai heritage, and whatever skill she had, he was certain it could teach him that skill. That, and also give him the power it held. Tapping into a dark part of his being, a darkness he had learned due to the things he did in his "spare time", as his brother insinuated, Kiya's eyes turned black with the Black Energy of Death.

"Tell me about it. Let me see that amulet," Kiya ordered. Like Ra's al Ghul before him, he had learned that he could corrupt a portion of his own Animal Spirit and turn it into a Demon Spirit. He was using the Demon Spirit to possess Miko temporarily, to force her into giving him the amulet. Concentrating, he forced Miko to let go of the Samurai Amulet. He then reached forward and yanked it off the chain.

"Tell me. _Now_!" Kiya repeated as the Black Energy fully left him and entered her.

He smiled suddenly as he saw her become one with his Demon Spirit.

It was the first time he had ever tried to control someone, and he was happy that it worked. Over the past two years, Kiya had found an old scroll left by accident in the Wind Academy library. It was a scroll teaching about a theoretical power known as Dark Ninja. The basis of the power was that one was able to mix Black Energy (corresponding to the power of Death) from the Emotional Spectrum with one's inner Demon Spirit. Unknowingly, Master Cowl from the Pai Zhua had taught himself the exact same principle to become the leader of the League of Assassins, taking on the name of Ra's al Ghul.

The more Kiya had learned of this forbidden technique (for it was the foremost rule of any Ninja Academy, after the concept had been discovered centuries prior), the darker his own inner Spirit grew as his Earth Spirit was tainted by Black Energy. The more corrupt and Demon-like he became, the more things of the Dark Arts began to interest him. He became obsessed with the power of evil forces, reading all he could about famous evil figures. At one point he found out about the ancient evil warrior, Lothor, who had come from a mysterious plane of existence (what the general public knew not was the Nathadian Universe) and had almost conquered the universe had it not been for the first Morphing Masters (which group's history omitted to tell had been created by Lothor in the first place for his evil machinations). His research led to him discovering that there was a scroll that existed called the Scroll of Destiny. It was suppposed to depict what was recorded as the journey of Lothor until the end of his life. What Kiya did not know was that the Scroll was created in the Nathadian Universe for Laguna (according to what Lothor had told Emma millions of years prior), and it seemed to have an extreme amount of Time Magic around it from whoever (presumably September) had created it there. Kiya wanted to learn more about Lothor and what caused him to lose everything, so he himself would not make the same mistakes.

One day, Kiya had snuck into the library after it had closed. He knew there was a room that only Sensei Lyn had access to, and he wanted to be able to go in and see if that is where the Scroll of Destiny was. He remembered as he stood before Miko how he had approached that door, feeling great Ninja Power emanating from it. Focusing, he had used Dark Ninja power for the first time, feeling it eat away at the force field around the door and letting him in. He found several books and documents scattered about, but he knew the moment he beheld it where the Scroll of Destiny was. He smiled and grabbed it, reading it right then and there.

What he found out shocked him: Lothor had been encased in something called the Gem of Souls long ago during his final battle against the Morphing Masters. For eons his trusted servant named Zurgane had carried the gem, trying to find a way to unlock his master from it. He learned that Lothor had never read the fine details of his life, but just that he knew he would run a massive army to conquer the universe. What Lothor had not read about was his capture in the Gem of Souls. He also didn't see how he would eventually escape: one day, after his old rival Vexacus stole him from Zurgane (which had already occurred by the time Kiya was reading the scroll) a young man with a Demon Spirit would meet Vexacus. His mighty Demon Spirit would merge with the Gem of Souls and attempt to possess Lothor's Lingering Spirit. Using the same principle Azazel had learned centuries prior when he discovered he could possess Reapers in their Spirit Form, the young man's Demon Spirit would be successful in possessing Lothor. Due to Lothor's strong Will and his being a Demi-God of Magic (twice), the two Spirits would mix fully and become a new being, taking the young man's body as its new vessel to become the new Lothor and begin his journey to create his massive empire. Kiya felt himself smiling as he read that.

 _Is that me!?_ He wondered to himself. _It must be! I fit the bill._ _I_ _will be the new Lothor!_

Before Kiya had been allowed to read any further, he heard something behind him. Covering his face with his mask, he found the Academy Guard, led by his brother Kanoi, along with Sensei Lyn. A great battle had erupted, but the cancerous effects of the Dark Ninja powers corrupted the Academy Guard's powers too much and Kiya had been able to escape. Upon escaping, though, Kanoi had tried to grab the Scroll of Destiny away from Kiya, ripping the final piece of the parchment. Kanoi had then delivered that piece of parchment to Lyn, upset he had let the thief escape.

What Kiya had not known until later was that Kanoi had recognized several of the moves and mannerisms Kiya had during the battle as being exclusively belonging to his twin. Kanoi had confronted Kiya about it the next day, and Kiya in his hubris hinted to Kanoi that it had in fact been him, but had left his statements vague enough to not allow Kanoi any concrete evidence. Kiya even remembered what he had said to Kanoi on that occasion.

 _"...and look at it this way, brother... You have no proof. Nothing definitive. So just leave me be! You wouldn't want to throw your brother to the wolves with a doubt in your mind, would you?"_

His mind having stopped wandering, Kiya began to focus again on Miko. The Samurai stared off into space, still dazed from being possessed. Kiya demanded her for a third time to tell him about the Samurai Amulet.

"I am the Green Samurai Ranger..." She said as her eyes turned black, indicating the possession complete. "I just became the Green Samurai Ranger and felt like I needed more training... I... I came here to free my head a bit of the Samurai training I have received my whole life. That amulet is my morpher. With it I can become the Green Samurai Ranger by saying, 'go, go Samurai'..."

Kiya smiled. "Thank you very much- ugh!"

He doubled over in pain. He knew he had kept his Spirit out of his body for too long. Backing up a bit, limping from the agony of being without a Spirit, he called his Demonic Spirit back to him. As he did, Miko awoke. The lingering feeling of Darkness left her feeling numb, cold, and horrible.

"What... what have you done to me!?" Miko demanded, unsheathing her practice sword. "Give that back to me!"

"Hmm... how about no? Go, go Samurai!" Kiya yelled, smirking deviously as he did.  
Miko gasped as she lowered her sword. She watched as Kiya became the Green Samurai Ranger. Calling forth his lance, he drove forward to stab her and end her life.

"Hi-ya!" Kanoi declared as he jumped forward. He landed on the tip of the spear and drove it into the ground.

As the evil Green Ranger's blade dipped into the grass, he spat. "Hello, brother! Nice to see you here!"

"Are you okay!? What just happened!?" Kanoi asked, shielding Miko from the Green Ranger.

"The Samurai Amulet has found its rightful owner!" Green Ranger declared, laughing as he pulled his weapon away from the duo.

"You can't!" Miko screamed.

"That is why I came here, isn't it?" Green Ranger Kiya asked, laughing darkly.

The rest of the Academy Guard Ninja Streaked in, surrounding Kanoi, Miko, and the Green Ranger. From within their ranks, Sensei Lyn stepped forward.

Green Ranger continued to laugh. "You think you can stop me from harnessing the darkest powers in the universe!? I will _rule_ this world, and all others within my reach!"

Sensei Lyn began to charge a ball of Ninja Energy in his hand. "You've brought this fate upon yourself! You will be cast adrift in the universe where your Dark Ninja powers will cause no harm!"

Green Ranger put up a hand, wagging his finger as he did. "I don't think so. I'm more a man of action... Symbol Power!"

"No!" Miko gasped.

The Forest Element erupted from the stolen Symbol Power. The leaves from the trees around them began to fly at the Academy Guard, razor sharp and ready to cut.

"Power of Wind!" Kanoi yelled, also commanding his fellow Red Guards. They began to shoot Wind Energy at the leaves to circle them away.

"Yah!" Green Ranger screamed, rushing forward to stab Sensei Lyn.

"Power of Earth!" The Yellow Guard yelled simultaneously. Several chunks of ground flew forward to hit the Green Ranger, while many of the Yellow Guard themselves dipped down under the ground. They reached up and all grabbed at Green Ranger's ankles, causing him to fall.

"Power of Water!" The Blue Guard screamed, shooting streams of water like arrows at the evil ranger. His suit sparked with each strike.

"Dark Ninja power!" He screamed. A shockwave of Black Energy erupted from him and sent everyone, including Sensei Lyn, to their backs.

Standing up tall and laughing, the Green Ranger pointed at Kanoi. "You were always a fool little brother. It's time for me to prove I've been the better fighter all this time! And then I will begin the new era of power that is _destined_ to be mine! The Scroll of Destiny has proclaimed it!"  
Lyn frowned as he tried to recuperate fro the Dark Ninja blast. "It was _you_ who stole the Scroll of Destiny!"

"Yes... And it will be me who destroys _you_!" Green Ranger said. He then cocked his arm back and threw his spear like a javelin. He was going to impale Lyn.

"Hiya!" Miko yelled as she swatted the the spear out of the air with her sword.

"Miko! No!" Kanoi yelled, running to her side. "I don't care how good you are, he's a Power Ranger. His strength will overpower you!"

"No, it won't," Miko said. "That power is not his! Ahhh!"

"Come at me." Green Ranger said, standing in place awaiting her.

Focusing, she leapt up and into the air. As she was to strike at him, she yelled, "Go, go Samurai!"

"Huh!?" Green Ranger gasped as the Green Morphing Energy began to shine around him. He then watched as it was sucked into a mini whirlpool of power and landed upon Miko.  
Slashing at Kiya, Green Ranger Miko landed and turned her back to him, demorphing as she did. She fell to a knee, gasping for breath.

"Are you okay!?" Kanoi asked, running to her and helping her up.

"He's done something... the powers are tainted!" Miko gasped.

Sensei Lyn walked up to Kiya as two Guard stood beside him to lift him up. "You are hereby stripped of your Ninja Rank, and the man known as Kiya will no longer exist!"

"What's happening?" Miko asked Kanoi.

"Our Ninja Spirits become entangled together, creating a sort of collective. We voluntarily do this upon becoming Ninjas," Kanoi explained. "As head of this collective, the sensei has the power to excommunicate anyone from the collective. He couldn't do this to anyone, just one he deems as being unfit for this Ninja family."

"I am sorry this is happening to your brother," Miko said.

Kanoi shook his head. "This has been a long time coming. I just feel stupid for not having been able to stop it."

Kiya sneered as Lyn pronounced his banishment. "I have no use for your archaic ways _or_ your worthless name! From now on, I will take the name of the _ancient warrior of evil_! From this point forth, I will be known as- Lothor!"

Lyn spat as he heard the wretched name, remembering it from his studies. He shot the fully charged orb at "Lothor" and encased him in it, finalizing the banishment. Lothor yelled and screamed from within the orb, trying to break out.

"I will _not_ forget the part you played in this, brother!" Lothor screamed. "I will have my revenge."

Sneering, Lyn threw the ball up and out of the Earth's atmosphere, having him cross out of the Magic Realm and into outer space proper. "Be gone, _Lothor_!"

"I... I need help!" Miko cried out, falling to a knee.  
"What's wrong with her!?" Kanoi gasped.

"I don't know..." Lyn said. "I know of only one man who will, though. Kanoi, take Miko and come with me. We're going to Angel Grove to visit the wizard Zordon."

 _. . ._

 _ **Universe M54331Z-B**_

Zordon began to interpret the readings as Alpha 5 waved his scanning wand over Miko. Lyn and Kanoi stood off to the side, looks of worry on their faces.

"Do you have a definitive reason?" Saba asked worriedly.

Zordon nodded. "Miko. It appears as if you have been poisoned by Black Energy from the Samurai Amulet. I am sorry, but I fear if you morph again, it will spread."

"Can't we just fix the morpher!?" Miko cried out in a panic.

"It is not the morpher itself that is the problem: it is you," Zordon revealed. "We can always create a new morpher. It's the fact that the infection is in you now that is the problem. If you morph again after this, you will succumb fully to the Black Energy in you and you will become a Demon."

"But... but what about the Samurai Rangers!?" Miko asked, shocked.

"I have developed a new algorithm. I will find a new ranger to replace you," Zordon said.

"But... my family line..." Miko said sadly.

"The Watanabe family is still connected to the Pink Ranger line," Zordon said. "Remember, you only became Green Ranger due to the end of a family line. Perhaps this is fate trying to show us the Green Ranger line belongs to a new family."

Miko shook her head. "I failed..."

"No, you didn't," Kanoi said suddenly. "If it hadn't been for you, Kiy- Lothor would have never been found out. You helped sift him out of our ranks. The world owes you for that."

"And you will always have a place with us at the Ninja Aacademy," Lyn added.

"Alpha? Please begin the ATTITUDE search," Zordon said.

"Already have! I came up with a young man named Hector Hernandez," Alpha 5 reported.  
Miko stood up at that. "Well, I guess just because I'm not a ranger, doesn't mean I can't do things. I mean, that's why I went to the Ninja Academy to begin with: to be useful outside of being a ranger."

"I think you will have a great future, Miko." Lyn said, opening a portal to the Wind Ninja Academy. As Miko stepped through, Lyn stopped Kanoi. "I need to speak with you about something as soon as we get back to the Academy."

"What is it?" Kanoi asked, worried.

"Before we came here, I read the bit of the Scroll of Destiny we still have," Lyn told Kanoi. "There are some important things about the future of our Academy I need to reveal to you... about you, as well."

Kanoi nodded. "Okay, Sensei. I'll go to your office straight away."

Lyn looked to Kanoi seriously. "Thank you. What I'm going to tell you may affect the fate of the universe... And it is directly involved with Lothor."

"What!? I thought he was gone!" Kanoi gasped.

Lyn shook his head. "Not for long. The time will soon come that Lothor will return, and if we're not prepared he could very well destroy Earth and the entire universe along with it..."

 _. . ._

General McKnight looked at the information Dr. Harlen handed to him. "And all of this energy came from Blue Bay Harbor?"

"Yes, General," Harlen answered.

"Interesting... So our agents found out about a secret Ninja Academy in Blue Bay Harbor..." McKnight said, letting that thought sink in.

"And there seem to be others. We're not sure why they're there for sure, but some agents have gathered intel suggesting they are guarding some sort of doorway to another realm, sir," Harlen said.

"Well, put that on my agenda then, Harlen," McKnight said. "I would really like to somehow get someone into one of these Ninja Academies. Who knows? Maybe they'll have some sort of power or tech our government can use to win wars. Then our country will be unstoppable!"

"Yes, sir." Harlen said as he began to note the idea down.

"So they are usually only teenagers, correct?" McKnight asked. "Well, my son has some sort of spinal disorder and is not allowed to do any sports... Heh, maybe if he ever has kids someday, right Harlen!?"

"Maybe, sir." Harlen said as he finished noting everything down.

"Yes, well... right then," McKnight said. "How are things with Angel Grove?"

"Going well. We just got the Shapeshifter in as a teacher at the local high school. We've almost finished faking Kaplan's PhD in Teaching and Management. Once those are in place, we'll begin to transition him into Angel Grove High as it's principal."

"Perfect. Soon, everything will fall in place," McKnight said. "Soon, Harlen? Soon we'll save the world..."

 _. . ._

The man formerly known as Kiya floated through space in his bubble. He didn't know how long he would float there, but he knew it wouldn't be long. He wasn't sure how long he had been banished... hours? Days? Weeks? After a while time seemed to meld, with the only thing for him to see are the planets around him. All he knew was that he wouldn't be stuck forever. He laughed as he pulled the Scroll of Destiny out of his robe where he always kept it. He knew that soon he would become one with the Ancient Affliction, Lothor.

Suddenly, he felt his bubble move quicker than it had before. In a matter of moments, he was sucked up into a ship. A ship belonging to Vexacus. As he saw the alien Monster, he furrowed his brow.

"Who are you!?" Lothor demanded as Vexacus shot the bubble with a laser. After a couple of seconds the laser overloaded the bubble and allowed Lothor to fall onto the floor of the ship's hangar bay.

Vexacus laughed. "I find a Human banished in space floating mysteriously, and he asks _me_ who _I_ am? Funny. You first, kid."

"My name is..." Lothor began. He remembered from the Scroll of Destiny that Vexacus had once battled Lothor and decided not to show his hand just yet. "... Kiya. Kiya Watanabe. I was expelled from my Ninja Academy for using Dark Ninja powers."

"Oh, that's interesting," Vexacus said. "I'll need to contact my agent to get you on the blackmarket sale on Onyx immediately. I'm sure Dark Specter or Emperor Mavro would love to have a user of Dark Ninja powers in their arsenal."

"I am _not_ for sale!" Lothor demanded, clenching his fist.

Vexacus shrugged and flicked his wrist. As he did, his ship's machinery caused a laser cage to surround Lothor. "Whatever. I'll see you once we get to Onyx. My name's Vexacus, by the way."

As Vexacus left, Kiya/Lothor looked around in anger. _Wait... what!? No! That's not what the Scroll of Destiny said! I'm not supposed to be stuck here like this! I mean, I'm where I'm supposed to be, but now what!?_

Kiya/Lothor tried to use Dark Ninja powers to break the bars of his laser cage, but found that they were not affected by it. Groaning after finding he couldn't break out, he dropped onto his bum to sit cross-legged. As he did, he placed his elbows on his knees and his chin in his two palms. Breathing out, annoyed, he began to look around. Several artifacts were scattered in the hangar bay, testifying to Lothor that Vexacus was some sort of bounty hunter/scavenger.

As he continued to look, his eyes landed on one object: a green gem sitting behind a glass case. He knew exactly what it was. Following the prophecy of the Scroll of Destiny, he caused his Demon Spirit to leave him and slide in through the crack between the glass and the small stand upon which the Gem of Souls sat. Within moments, the Demon Spirit entered the Gem of Souls and did exactly as the Scroll of Destiny predicted. After less than ten seconds, a new being entered Kiya/Lothor's body. Part Kiya, part Lothor, the man stood and laughed as he shot a massive amount of Black Magic out of his hand, destroying the laser cage.

Walking over, he grabbed the Gem of Souls. "You just never know when these things will come in handy again!"

As he grabbed it, an alarm went off. Feeling weak from the recent bonding to a new body, Lothor decided it best not to confront Vexacus just yet and teleported himself out of the ship, Gem of Souls in hand. As he floated in space, he sighed.

"Well, after almost two hundred thousand years stuck in a crystal, it's funny how I have no idea what to do next!" Lothor said to himself sadly. Encasing himself in an orb of Dark Ninja powers, he began to float toward the closest planet.

After crossing its atmosphere and landing, Lothor looked around. The planet seemed to be covered with vegetation on all sides. "Yuck... a planet with only _vegetables_. I sure did pick the wrong place to land."

"You're right..." A feminine voice said behind him. Spinning around, Lothor found himself face to face with Xelleb, the Alpha Nobody and wife to Emperor Mavro.

"Who are you!?" Lothor demanded.

Xelleb smiled, throwing her curly blonde hair behind her as she moved toward Lothor. "I am the future queen of the universe. And who are you?"

Lothor frowned. "Oh, um... wow, this is awkward. Well, I'm the future ruler of the universe myself, so... Yeah, this is kind of a hard meeting for us, huh?"

Laughing, Xelleb turned and pointed to the vegetation stretching out behind her. "I've been travelling the universe for almost two hundred million years. I've learned how to keep organizations running, and my current empire is gaining much power. Soon we'll be stronger than the United Alliance of Evil, and Dark Specter will fall to me and my husband, Mavro."

"So you're a big shot, huh?" Lothor said. "You think you can... wait. There's something _familiar_ about you... What is your name?"

"I am Empress Xelleb," She said proudly. "And I see no reason why you think you will be able to rule the universe. You see, I am _very_ organized. I have plans for _everything_ and _nothing_ will stand in my way. So, whoever you are... you need to leave your dreams of universal conquest in your head. No one will stop me."

"Ah! I got it!" Lothor said, having ignored everything Xelleb had said as he was trying to figure out how he knew her. "You were married to the Dark One, Rumple! You're Belle, mother of... oh, what was his name... Baby Fire?"

"Bae... Baelfire..." Xelleb managed to cough out, shocked. "How... How did you know who I am?"

"Well, you may not recognize the body but the Spirit inside of me is... well, at least _half_... is of the mighty Lothor!"

Xelleb stared at him, wide eyed. "I... Hmm... How do I know this isn't some sort of trap?"

"Well, I know you and I are both from another universe. This place isn't our home." Lothor said smugly, walking around and placing his fingers on the plants around Xelleb's garden. "You come from the Nathadian Nation from our home planet, if I remember correctly. Didn't you used to have brown hair...?"

"Enough," Xelleb demanded. She suddenly felt something her new Heart had never felt before: sadness for no longer being the woman she once was. After losing her heart due to Bansheera controlling the Dark One and forcing him to take it from her chest, she had wandered the universe as a Nobody (a body without a Heart) until her body created a new Heart. The new Heart caused her to become a new person, the only remnants of Belle surviving in her being her memories and Xelleb's desire to have those memories truly be her own.

"Hit a sore spot, huh?" Lothor asked.

"Shut up. I don't know how you happened to get here, or be alive after all these years, but like I said before: You need to give up your desires for universal conquest. You can't beat me. I've become better than you. Better than anyone," Xelleb said, still feeling odd that someone from her past life was before her as she turned her back on him.

Lothor smirked. "Really? Do you remember how I was able to destroy our universe? Do you have such power? Do you have the Greatest Treasure in the Universe? Wild Sword? Sword of Darkness? Cannon of Ki? _Anything_ with which to become the God of Magic?"

"I don't need those things. All I need is my organization..." Xelleb said.

Nodding slowly, Lothor walked closer to her and leaned up against a tree as she kept her back turned to him. "Okay, okay... That's fair. I did try twice to get that plan off the ground and both times it failed. How about this? You know I'm useful. You know I have the ability to dominate my enemies. You know I'm _powerful_ and _influential_. Remember how I used to just be a court jester in Kind David's castle? I ended up going from being a clown to being a clown who was able to crush an _entire universe_. You know you can use me. Besides... wouldn't it be nice to hang around someone who knows you for who you really are? I don't care if you go by the name of Xelleb now. I know you are really the girl from Nathadia who owned her own bookstore."

Memories of a life that wasn't hers, yet she longed to have belong to her, flooded her mind. She began to think if she had one person around her who truly thought she was the real Belle, then perhaps she could learn to be that woman and have those memories feel _real_ to her. Nodding, she turned and looked at Lothor.

"Okay, but what do you have to offer me!?" Xelleb demanded, trying not to look needy.

Lothor smiled. "Well, I hear that your hubby has a rival. Someone by the name of... 'Dark Specter'?"

Xelleb groaned. "Yes, he is the one thing standing in my way. He is rather intelligent and very resourceful."

"Well, keep your friends close and your enemies closer, my dear," Lothor stated matter of factly. "If you know anything about me, it's that I _love_ running my designs as if they were a business. To take out your business rival, perhaps you need to become an asset to them first."

"How so?" Xelleb asked, her curiosity peaked.

"We can go into the business of _power_. Not dominion power, but like electricity and stuff like that. Create our own power company that can supply Dark Specter's troops with more power than they had before. Who controls stuff like this now?"

"Various random companies. We buy batteries and engines and such from whoever has the cheapest prices for the best gear," Xelleb answered.

"Then we need to become a monopoly. Money is power. We have me step forward as the head of a new power company, with your empire going into the shadows to build up secretly. I'll bring in the money you will need to grow your empire while we take said power, aka money, from Dark Specter. When the time is right, you swoop in and yank the rug out from under Dark Specter and voila! Team Xelleb is in charge." Lothor said, smiling smugly.

"That... that might work," Xelleb said. "I my Warstar Armada cannot go up against the United Alliance of Evil without greatly crippling us, and I can't afford that with that _Zordon_ and his forces..."

Lothor stood up off the tree. "Oh, and what about a school?"

"Huh?"

"If I offer my services to the people of the universe to train up their children in the ways of evil, in some fake accredited school, then we can charge insane tuition rates!" Lothor said happily. "Oh, I was meaning to do something like that anyway. Something called Alphabet Soup or something. It's something in my plans that I had before I came to this universe."

"Alphabet Soup, huh?" Xelleb said. "Curious... My spies tell me Dark Specter is currently starting that organization. Bansheera was the first to ever do that."

"Bansheera...? That name... sounds familiar," Lothor said, trying to remember why.

"Regina named herself that after becoming a Demon," Xelleb explained.

Lothor sneered. "Ugh, that traitor? Whatever happened to her?"

Smiling, Xelleb said, "She's trapped on that planet where you tried to create the Morphing Masters. Earth. I have plans for her, eventually."

"Well, I still want my revenge on her for betraying me. That horrible Witch," Lothor said. "So, deal?"

Xelleb nodded. "I think you will be a breath of fresh air for my Armada. Especially with Mavro and his stern attitude. He's very uptight. You'll have to also deal with my two sons, Vrak and Vekar. Vrak is very driven and I see great things from him, but my oldest? Vekar? Complete spoiled brat."

Lothor laughed. "Well, just let old Uncle Lothor take a look at them. Oh, and to get my system accredited, maybe we can fake some certificates and show them to a school board or something and say Vrak learned everything he did from my teachings. Sound good? This universe has a school system and board, right?"

"Yes, and I think we can arrange something like that," Xelleb said. "Now follow me: I'll portal us to my command ship in orbit."

"Perfect!" Lothor said.

 _And soon, once you get all the pieces in place, I will smash you and take your empire from you!_ Lothor thought. _And I will be able to finally become the God of Magic and travel the multiverse, destroying everything!_

Then, suddenly, another thought entered his mind. A thought that seemed _different_ but relevant nonetheless. _And I will get revenge on my brother! He will pay for treating me as if I was lesser than him! Those Ninja Academies with their holier than thou rules! They will rue the day they ever crossed the mighty Lothor!_


	14. 1981: Bio-Lab

**1981: Bio-Lab**

 _ **1981 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Dr. Levoy made his way through the coridoors of LuthorCorps slowly. Although he was one of the foremost scienitfic minds in the world, even he felt the solemnity of being invited into LuthorCorps. Lex Luthor had nearly been president of the United States at one point, only having lost the opportunity due to a sudden health problem forcing him to have his running mate run in his stead. After that, Lex had devoted the rest of his life to his company, churning out amazing technology the likes of which boggled even Levoy's mind.

Sighing heavily as he stood before Luthor's door, Levoy adjusted his tie and checked one last time he hadn't spilled any food on his blazer. He then opened the heavy door quietly and slowly. As he entered the massive office of one of the most powerful men in the world he saw the man himself sitting at his desk.

"Mr. Luthor? Dr. Levoy. You called for me yesterday."

Lex Luthor looked up. Although he had aged quite drastically since the Great Battle of Metropolis, he still possessed the same demeanor and vigor he had in his youth. Smiling, he stood up and gestured for Levoy to walk forward.

"I'm impressed. Here I am in New Metropolis, clear on the other side of the country from you and yet you still are able to drop everything and get here in less than twenty four hours... I'm flattered." Lex said as Levoy approached him, extending his hand.

Taking Luthor's hand, Levoy shook it. He was then gestured over to the chair in front of Lex's desk. As Levoy sat in it, he could feel himself sink in slowly. It was honestly the most comfortable chair Levoy had ever had the chance of sitting in. Trying not to show on his face how absolutely in bliss he was from the simple act of sitting on that heavenly chair, Levoy smiled at Luthor.

"Well, when Lex Luthor asks you to see him, my opinion is you don't make him wait," Levoy said.

Lex smiled. "I am so very happy to hear you say that. You see... I need your brain to work on something... excuse me..."

Levoy furrowed his brow as Lex began coughing badly. Blood spurted out his mouth as he coughed. Dr. Levoy noticed the hand Lex used to grab a handkerchief from his blazer pocket had a black glove upon it, whereas the other hand had no such glove. Levoy figured it may be an odd fashion choice, since the rich tended to do things like that. Still, his eye lingered on the glove far too long, and Lex noticed.

"Ah, yes... the coughing, the glove... all related to the sickness," Lex said. "It's what cost me the election, you know. This hand is badly aged, marked with liver spots. I never bothered getting anything cosmetic done. It... it serves as a reminder of what could have been."

"My apologies, Mr. Luthor. I didn't mean to stare..." Levoy answered, face growing pale from embarrassment.

Lex smiled in response. "Oh, don't be silly. It's perfectly reasonable. Now... Do you remember the forces that brought this lovely city to its knees nearly five decades ago?"

"I... I wasn't born yet, but I learned about it in school, sir," Levoy answered.

"Well, then you know the consequences of that horrible day. First, we learned of how dangerous it was to have vigilantes running around, eliminating most of them due to the Superhero Registration Act. Then to deal with the threat of the remaining vigilantes, each state became its own sovereign, loosely connected by the similarities of their laws due to our constitution and allowing themselves to still be led by the US President," Lex said, ensuring they were on the same page.

"Yes, Mr. Luthor. Apparently before Metropolis fell, the term 'united' meant a lot more than it does now. For me, each state has always acted as if they were a separate nation. It's hard for me to fathom anything different," Levoy told Luthor.

Lex nodded and stood up from his desk. "Well, Doctor... There is more than just different styles of law enforcement at play with this separation. You see, I was involved in politics a lot more than what you saw during my presidential bid. I was a member of the president's secret cabinet long before that."

Levoy sat, feeling uneasy. He was still unsure why Lex had called him in, and he had no idea why he was sharing such deep things with him.

Continuing, Lex said, "The vigilantes led by the Batman were needing to be hunted down _like the dogs they were_. They posed a great threat, you see. That's why we had to segregate each state: it was to ensure the tactics we employed in Gotham, or Metropolis, Star City... we couldn't allow the public at large to know about it! They would think our nation unable to contain its own citizens! We would look _weak_! We've employed great tactics over the years to bring down these vigilantes. Police armored with tech by LuthorCorps the likes of which have never before been seen! But of course... only a select few have ever seen it in the first place.

"That's why the NSA screens all of our letters and phone calls... it's to ensure if anyone said anything about these tactics, it would be censored. Of course, it's not perfect. People talk and they always will. Be... hehe... they will continue to just be urban legends. We are very careful to ensure people don't talk. We are constantly getting people to sign waivers. I even have a fund the government uses to pay people to keep their mouths shut. For the most part, people obey and don't blab. They know my surveillance is top notch, and my computer program Echelon will track them down eventually... And if some info does leak, we do our best to neutralize the info and discredit it as much as we can. Have you ever heard of stories of the Men in Black, Dr. Levoy?"

The doctor's throat was dry. He was in awe at what Lex Luthor was revealing to him. He tried to cough out a "yes", but found he was only able to nod.

"There's a glass of water for you at the table if you need it, Levoy. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The Men in Black. Well, they are _real_ , Levoy. They mainly guard Area 51, and yes, that's real, too. We also use them to go out and use a little device I invented called a _Neuralizer_ to try and delete sensitive information from the minds of those who may know too much. So, you see Dr. Levoy... the illusion of a free society is simply that. _An illusion_. One that we've needed to maintain for the sanity of the people. Do you think you would go to sleep easily every night knowing the world you live in is actually the one I described to you?"

Levoy had poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher on Luthor's desk. Quickly gulping down the ice cold liquid, feeling his throat able to flex itself again, Levoy answered by saying, "Yes. I mean... I would not sleep well, sir."

"Well, I'm sorry that I've spoiled your sleep from here on out." Lex said, chuckling. "But I jest... You yourself have no need to fear, because I am recruiting you into my fold. You see, Dr. Levoy... I'm dying. I don't have much longer to live. Months at most. The sickness within me is eating away at me, and we have no way to heal me. Shame, really. But I want my creations to continue forward. That's where you come in. You see, I have ideas that will branch off from me to you for generations to come! And I know that you will be able to bring them to life, and even improve upon them! My legacy will live on through _you_."

"I'm... I'm speechless! I will do all I can to ensure that this will happen!" Levoy said, shocked.

"Good, good... Well, I'm the full package. I am a scientific genius, but also the greatest business mogul the world has ever known! But, I do have a protegé." Lex said, walking over to a comm device on his desk and pushing a button. "Linda? Please bring them in. I'm ready."

As Lex said this, Levoy heard the door to Luthor's office open. Turning his head, he saw General McKnight enter. Following him was a man he did not recognize. He had an air of confidence about him that seemed to rival even that of Lex Luthor himself.

Standing, Dr. Levoy extended his hand to each of them.

"Dr. Levoy, this is General McKnight. He is over some very special operations for the government. And this is the Vice President of LuthorCorps. His name is Albert Collins, and he is the future _me_. Haha!" Lex said, laughing heartily at his last phrase. He began to cough heavily as his laughter ended, grabbing at his handkerchief once more.

Collins nodded. "Well, I don't have his mind or his good looks, but I guarantee you that I am just as tenacious!"

"He's always just as rich as you, Mr. Luthor." McKnight said, chuckling.

"Yes, yes," Luthor said. "The only families richer would be the Queens, the Waynes, and the Hartfords. Maybe even that widow Donna Winslow on a good day. _Maybe_."

Collins sighed. "Yes, I am quite wealthy. And I'm _sure_ they're not just bragging for me. The reason they say this is because I will have the funds at my disposal to get my... I mean _our_ projects online. The ones we shall inherit from Lex himself. Like I said, I don't have the scientific mind he does. Together, though? You and me could match what Mr. Luthor _is_."

"Not to be too candid," Said McKnight. "But it is very good of you to work so hard to make sure things are well after you, well..."

Lex smiled. "Yes, well I once heard the sign of a good man is one who plants the seed for a tree whose shade he shall never enjoy. Consider this my seed. Now, on top of your fortune, Collins, I am giving you LuthorCorps."

Albert Collins felt as if he'd been slapped in the face. He was close to staggering back and passing out at the news. He had hoped he would be named Lex's successor, but he wasn't positive since it was in the realm of possibility Lex would pass the company down to his son, Alexander.

"I... I will do _all_ I can to bring LuthorCorps into the twenty first century the way you would have, sir," Collins said, honored. "You will _not_ regret this."

Nodding, Lex sat back down at his desk. "I know I won't. And also, we will need to change the name. This is a new start for the company, and even though I did great things for it, I don't want my name bringing everyone to remembrance of me. I feel like my memory would slow the company down. Once I'm _gone_ , I've already had written into my will and also your contract which you three will be signing that this company will be known as _Bio-Lab_."

Levoy nodded. "Whatever is best for your vision, Mr. Luthor."

"You three will make a good team," Lex said simply. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have another appointment after this. General McKnight?"

"Yes?" The general replied.

"Take Collins and Levoy down to the main lab. Ask Dr. Raimei to pull up the schematic for the machine he and I have been working on. I wish I could take credit for it, but it was actually his idea to begin with! It's a massive machine which looks like it could be used for oil drilling or something like that, but actually-"

"It's a _war machine_ , isn't it?" McKnight said, smiling broadly.

"Of course it is. When is anything I make not able to be weaponized?" Lex said slyly. "Now go down. Remember what I told you Levoy: our nation is constantly at war, and the things you will do here with McKnight and Collins will be crucial in protecting our people."

Levoy nodded. "Thank you for your trust, Mr. Luthor."

As the trio exited the office, McKnight turned to Levoy and said, "I have a doctor who works closely with me by the name of Harlen. Ever heard of him?"

As Levoy answered in the affirmative, the door closed behind them. After it had, Lex stood up and closed the curtains to his office. He then walked slowly to a wall and tapped a hidden panel, causing several wall mounted monitors to appear behind the fake wall as it retracted. Lex smiled while each monitor showed a different angle of a man exiting a building. It was Oliver Queen, the secret identity of the Green Arrow. Secret to everyone but Lex Luthor.

"Vengeance will finally be mine..." Lex said as he took off his glove, staring down at the hand that looked to belong to someone over the age of one hundred.

As Lex stared at his withered hand, memories flooded his mind of what had happened to him. Memories of the day when he had contracted his " _illness_ ":

 _Lex sat at his desk. It was 1972 and he was at the end of his presidential campaign. He was far in the lead of the polls, and it was all but guaranteed that the swing states would vote in his favor. It was all in the bag. He would become the president and world power would finally be officially his._

 _At his desk, he smiled as he read the cover of TIME Magazine for what felt like the millionth time: "President Lex Luthor - FROM SMALLVILLE TO THE WHITE HOUSE - Can a business man from Metropolis change Washington?"_

 _"Yes... yes he can!" Lex called out happily!_

 _He grabbed a glass on his desk and poured himself some water from the pitcher. He drank it quickly and smiled. The smile quickly turned to a grimace as he clutched at his throat, dropping the glass as he did. He heard it shatter as it hit the hard floor._

 _"Lex Luthor!" A deep voice said from a shadow in the corner of the room._

 _Turning in his chair, still choking, Lex tried to make out the man hiding in the shadows. There was not much to see (partially due to the shadows, partially due to his vision blurring), but looking closer Lex could make out a man holding a bow and arrow, ready to shoot._

 _"You have failed this nation!" Arrow said, stepping forward._

 _"You... you won't ghost me!" Luthor managed to spit out._

 _Arrow sneered. "I'm not Batman. He won't do what is necessary to save our nation. I will end you if you do not comply!"_

 _"Anything! I don't want to end my life like this!" Lex gasped, falling on his desk in pain._

 _"The poison will affect you in twenty four hours, ending your life once and for all," Arrow said. "I will give you the antidote after you officially withdraw from the race."_

 _"No! Please no! I've worked my whole life for this!" Lex pleaded._

 _"Superman was right about you, and we didn't listen!" Green Arrow yelled. "You were behind Hydra all along! I found evidence of it!"_

 _"If you found evidence then you would show it the media, not poison me!" Luthor accused._

 _Arrow shook his head. "You're powerful. You can make things... disappear. This way, I can make sure you stay down. Twenty four hours, Luthor!"_

 _As Green Arrow leapt out a nearby open window, Lex clenched his fist and grabbed at the rotary phone beside him. He called his agent and began the process to withdraw from the presidency he had been sure to win._

As the memory ended, Lex Luthor smiled. Although Green Arrow had given him the antidote, he later discovered it greatly affected his life expectancy and disfigured one of his hands. He was wroth with Green Arrow, and from that day onward he vowed he would have revenge.

Putting a small comm device up to his lips, Lex smiled. "Do it."

Watching carefully, he saw a splatter of blood flow out of Oliver Queen's neck, a second from the back of his head. Two shots from two different snipers. Both snipers hired by Lex. He had studied for nearly a decade all of Green Arrow's patterns. After he had discovered his identity, he kept it to himself. The project was a personal one, and he wanted to get it done in his one way.

As people ran to the fallen billionaire, Lex turned off his monitors and caused the fake wall to slide over them once again. He then turned and walked slowly back to his desk. As he sat down, he pulled out the schematics for the machine he had spoken to McKnight, Levoy, and Collins about: the Raimei Explorer. Now that his vengeance was complete and he was at the end of his life, it was back to business as usual. His life was finally complete, and he was content.


	15. 1982: The Return of the Master

**1982: The Return of the Master**

 ** _1982 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Dr. Viktor Adler sat in his tent in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest. In the tent next to him he could hear a baby crying. The baby that was supposed to be _his_ baby. He then heard the baby stop crying and laughter begin to filter into his tent from the one with the Evans family inside.

He walked to the flap that was the opening of his temporary abode and opened it. From the opening, he could see the Evans family via their silhouettes against the tent's walls, picking up baby Cole from his crib. The love of his life, Elizabeth, held Cole in her hands and began to wave her head at him, laughing along with the man who also held Cole. The man who had taken Elizabeth from Viktor. The man Viktor had once called a friend. The man known as Richard Evans.

The thoughts from earlier that morning revved through Viktor's mind once again. Thoughts of pure evil. Thoughts of revenge. And he knew he had the power to accomplish those thoughts' Will in his bag. He turned and closed the flap, a delirious smile creeping onto his face. He had lost everything already... What more could he lose? His humanity?

 _My humanity left with Elizabeth!_ Adler thought madly to himself. _She was everything to me, and what did Richard do!? He back-stabbed me! He played me for a fool! Humans are supposed to be_ _different_ _from animals, yet Richard was practicing the law of the jungle! Survival of the fittest! Humans are supposed to be better! Well, if Richard thinks he is the alpha male in this camp, he will soon find out he is wrong!_

Slowly bending over his bag, almost ceremoniously Viktor pulled the sample dish out. The contents (which he had lied about destroying) wiggled in the container. They were the Demonic seeds that were the last remnants of Master Org, who had fallen by the hand of Merrick the Royal Guardian thousands of years prior. Viktor knew not how they had gotten from Turtle Cove in North America all the way down to the Amazon Rain Forest in South America, but he no longer cared. The only thing driving him was the thought for revenge.

He pulled the lid off. The four seeds had small roots, dangling and moving as if they had minds of their own. Black Energy emanated from them as they sat in the dish on Adler's palm. They could feel the White Energy inside Adler, making him be a member of the living. They desperately wanted inside of Adler's being, to squash that light in him and devour it for themselves. Their parasitic nature wanted to become one with Adler and live their Org Life once again.

Viktor stood in his tent for a moment, contemplating whether or not he was man enough to ingest the evil seeds. He thought about how he wasn't man enough to have taken Elizabeth for himself. He thought about how he wasn't man enough to stand up for himself and take his career by the reigns, and how he had let Richard walk all over him. He thought about how if he could harness the power of Master Org, there would be nothing standing in his way to be the man he knew he was meant to be.

As that thought rattled through his mind, he reached down and grabbed the first seed between his thumb and index finger. Dreams of grandeur were dancing throughout his mind as he stared deliriously at the Demonic remnant of Master Org. Then, closing his eyes as if he were at a tasting bar full of delicacies, Viktor put the seed in his mouth. Then the second, followed by the third. As the third seed slithered down his throat, he could feel the roots beginning to rip through his esophagus and spread through his body. He could feel them tapping into his very Heart. Shaking, he plopped the fourth and final one into his mouth.

As he did, he felt as if he was having a heart attack. He hadn't even let go of the sample dish as he fell to his knees. Thoughts and doubts rushed his head. He began to consider the possibility that he had made a rather large mistake in eating the essence of Master Org. Then, his mind landed on the event that started it all. It was almost one year ago to the day when the chain reaction of events had started that led Viktor to the temptation of becoming a Monster over being a Human. As he began to black out, those memories began to play themselves in his mind...

. . .

 ** _1981 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Viktor Adler, the famous historian/archaeologist from Russia, sat in his study as he looked over his information for what seemed to be the millionth time. His current research was focused on recent evidence that there actually had been some truth to the old folk lore surrounding a battle with gigantic mythical Animals in the Americas. Some scientists had discovered several pieces of evidence, including massive paw prints and some battle scarring on some rock formations. They all seemed to revolve around a city known as Turtle Cove.

He had been assigned to work with two other scientists on the project. One was Richard Evans, a chemist who was one of the leading minds in the world. He was to help verify the evidence brought in by the archaeological digs. The second was a biologist by the name of Elizabeth Landors. She was going to be used to lead a team to analyze the biological evidence and see whether they match up with Evans' findings. Adler had been brought in due to his vast knowledge of historical events and his ability to help piece everything together into a mosaic of events, as well as offer additional support to what the rest of the team found.

The team had been put together four months prior to that day. Day in and day out they worked hard, trying to figure out whether there was any merit to the original findings. The evidence did not seem add up, though. Other than the preliminary findings, no other clue could be found supporting the hypothesis that there actually had once been an Animaria in Turtle Cove, or that there were massive Animals walking about. The more Dr. Adler looked at it, the more he was thinking they had all been caught up in one massive hoax.

Then, right as he was about to give up, he noted something on a picture of some evidence near the Turtle Cove Lake: the rare blue skinned Venus Flytrap. He began to look at it, and think hard. He had heard of the blue skinned Venus Flytrap before, but had never heard of it being connected to Turtle Cove, Colorado. He frowned as he racked his brain to remember where he had seen the plant before. Then, it hit him: he had read a report from one of his students back in Russia about the oddity that was the blue skinned Venus Flytrap, and how it had become a plant in the Amazon Rain Forest was a mystery, as there seemed to be no reason for the indigenous people of the Americas thousands of years ago to have traveled from North America to South America.

As he remembered that, he quickly turned and grabbed the book with the Myth of Animaria written in it. Skimming through the book, he found the passage which had been on his mind:

After the fall of Master Org, his remains were planted in the ground. His loyalest soldier could not separate the four seeds from the ground and had decided to transplant the section of earth to another land, deep in the south, to protect them from enemy eyes...

"Deep in the south...?" Adler said outloud. "That's it!"

Dr. Adler wore the largest smile on his face as he burst into the lab where Dr. Evans and Dr. Landors were working. He had the book in his hand as he ran to meet the two. Dr. Evans looked up and gave Viktor a kind smile. As Dr. Landors saw Viktor, she jumped out of her seat and rushed over to him, giving him a large hug.

"Oh, Viktor! It's so good to see you!" She said, her bubbly personality showing.

Viktor turned red as he returned Elizabeth's hug. She was a very friendly woman and always let Viktor know how much he was valued on the team. Ever since he had left Russia, Viktor had felt alone in the US and as if he didn't fit in. That was at least when Elizabeth wasn't around. She had a way of making him feel truly loved. Her genuine sincerity helped him know that his sacrifice of leaving his home was actually worth it, and that there were those who really cared for him and his work.

"It is good to see you, too, Elizabeth," Viktor replied. "Now, Richard? Could you come here and join us? There is something I must show you."

Richard pursed his lips. "Can it wait? I am in the middle of a very important experiment and-"

"Oh, Richard... don't be such a downer! That titration can be left alone for a moment!" Elizabeth said happily. She walked over and grabbed him by the bicep, pulling him to Viktor. "It's not everyday the three of us get to be together. If Viktor says he has something important to show us, then let's hear it!"

Richard sighed. "Okay, you're right, you're right. So, what is it, Viktor?"

Dr. Adler smiled as he opened up the page to the map of Animaria. "If you look right at the location to which I am pointing, you will see that there is a certain type of vegetation that is native to Turtle Cove."

Evans looked at it and shrugged. "I don't know. What?"

"The blue skinned Venus Flytrap, right?" Dr. Elizabeth Landors asked, looking to Viktor to see if she had been correct.

"That is right, Elizabeth." Adler said, not taking his finger off the map. "And there is that same variant of plant in the South American Rain Forest. Now if you know the history of the Myth of Animaria-"

"The remnants of Master Org was taken to the south..." Richard said, finishing Adler's sentence.

Elizabeth stared at the page, mouth open in awe. "Viktor... You've done it! You've confirmed our hypothesis! Richard... According to this the clues to the Animaria really _are_ in the Amazon!"

Viktor nodded happily before pausing. "Wait... You already knew?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Richard said. "We only had some guesses. You see, I found some chemical samples that matched only one other place: the Amazon. We were beginning to think it was merely a coincidence, though. Had you not found that vital clue, we were ready to throw that part of the hypothesis away."

"Viktor! This is it!" Elizabeth declared happily. "We can continue the research!"

As Elizabeth gave Viktor another hug, something stirred within him. He had been working with the team for a while, and even though he only worked with them once or twice a week, he realized he had been looking forward to those collaborative meetings more than anything else during the week. And he finally realized why: it was because of Elizabeth. Viktor began to slowly realize he had been falling in love with Elizabeth Landors.

. . .

 _ **Three Months Later...**_

Viktor sat with Richard outside General McKnight's office. He had one hand in his lab coat, fumbling around with an object inside.

"Haha... Viktor? You okay?" Richard asked.

"Huh? Oh, yes... What?" Adler asked his partner.

"Well, it's just that you've been playing with whatever is in your pocket ever since we got in the car together," Observed Richard. "Whatever it is seems to really be on your mind!"

Sighing, Adler pulled the object out of his coat pocket. It was a ring box.

"Whoa... Is that for an engagement!?" Richard cried out in shock.

"Yes..." Viktor said, embarrassed.

"You old dog!" Richard cried out, getting up and sitting closer to him. He patted Viktor on the back. "I... I had no idea! Who's the lucky girl!?"

"I'd... I'd rather not say... I don't even know if I'm going to ask..." Viktor said shyly.

"Oh, come on! Is it someone I know!?" Richard asked. "It is, isn't it!? That's why you're so embarrassed! Is it Lili, that intern? I saw her making googly eyes at you yesterday..."

"No, no..." Viktor said, a silly smile appearing on his face. "Okay, fine. But don't tell _anyone_. I'm thinking of asking... Elizabeth."

The smile suddenly left Richard's face. He had taken a liking to Dr. Landors himself, but he had no idea Viktor had been so smitten. He began to think of their relationship and did indeed begin to see the _chemistry_ that existed between Viktor and Elizabeth. Being a chemist himself, Richard felt embarrassed he hadn't seen how the two had been _bonding_.

"Oh, wow..." Richard said. "I..."

"Please. Don't tell _anyone,_ " Viktor said, more embarrassed seeing the look on Richard's face. He began to think Richard's reaction was because he felt sorry for Viktor, imposing upon himself a fake validation that Elizabeth was out of his league. "Just... I doubt I'm even going to go through with it, you know? Yeah... It's silly."

"Well, I-" Richard began.

"General McKnight is ready to see you." The secretary said, interrupting the conversation as she walked into the waiting room.

"Let's just go." Viktor said, standing up quickly.

Entering General McKnight's office, they saw the heads of Bio-Lab already in the room. They were shocked, unaware that Bio-Lab (the former LuthorCorps) would be involved.

McKnight motioned for the duo to sit. "Dr. Adler? Dr. Evans? This is Dr. Levoy and Mr. Collins from Bio-Lab. Please take a seat."

After a round of hand shaking, the two researchers sat. Evans was the first to speak. "What do we owe the pleasure?"

Levoy coughed before answering. "General McKnight has asked us to go over your research. We are here to verify your claims."

Adler frowned. "Verify? We have already published our findings and they are peer reviewed... What more do you need to 'verify'!?"

"You Russians sure do have a temper..." McKnight said as he stood up from his chair, not allowing anyone to respond to his racist remark. "Now, listen here. You come to me for funding. Now you're playing ball in _my_ court. We will call you to let you know what our findings are."

"We fly all the way from Colorado to New Metropolis for three sentences!?" Evans cried out.

Mr. Collins smiled slowly. "I'm very sorry to inconvenience you like this. We just wanted to have a face to face conversation. I will have to admit we may not have thought everything through. Do not worry: I will cover your room and board. As an apology."

"The only apology I will have is our grant money!" Adler yelled. His outburst was completely out of character and shocked Richard. "This research is meant to save the world! If we find the Animarium, we could figure out how to become one with nature and perhaps end world hunger! We don't need Bio-Lab, a war company, involved! The government asked us to verify the claims, and we need to go to South America to do that!"

Mr. Collins stood up as Adler jumped out of his chair. Trying to calm the massive man, he smiled and said, "I understand LuthorCorps had a bit of a... _reputation_. I assure you, though: we changed our name for a reason. We are not LuthorCorps. Bio-Lab is here for the people, too. Please... just give us some time."

Evans stood up and placed a hand on Adler's shoulder. "Let's just go. There's nothing more we can do."

As the two fuming researchers left, McKnight looked to Levoy. "Harlen is waiting in the lab with Dr. Raimei downstairs for you to look over the research."

"On my way," Levoy said.

As he left, Collins shrugged and sighed. "Oh, boy. Bit of a hothead that one, huh?"

"Definitely," McKnight agreed. "Now, how's the move going?"

"Very well. Bio-Lab should be fully transferred from New Metropolis to Silver Hills by the end of the year," Collins reported.

"Fantastic. We don't need anymore memories of Lex Luthor bringing us down," McKnight said. "Those recent reports insinuating he was involved in Oliver Queen's assassination really hit Bio-Lab hard."

"Well, he was very smart in getting us to change our name. He must've known after his passing some sort of evidence of his... er... _private_ dealings would come to light," Collins said.

"Yes... oh, and what you said earlier about not being LuthorCorps...?" McKnight asked.

Laughing, Collins shook his head. "Trust me. I know where my loyalties lie. First and foremost we develop tech for our government. Now, let's see whether or not this research is what it says it is. If so-"

"If so," McKnight interrupted. "Then we will have irrefutable evidence that the Animarium exists. With that evidence, GA Rex will have what he needs to start our project of finding it. With a power source like the Animarium, our military will be _unbeatable_!"

"It sounds like a fairytale to me," Collins said off the cuff. "But... There's no arguing with Rex, I suppose."

"That'll be all, Collins," McKnight said.

"Okay. I'll let you know what Levoy finds." Collins said as he left the room.

As he did, McKnight sighed. He then sat down and began to dial "Mr. Kaplan's" phone number to see how the seeds for Alphabet Soup in Angel Grove were doing. Slowly all of GA Rex's plans were going in motion, and McKnight knew he was a major player in it all. Soon, the perfect world Rex envisioned would fall into place.

. . .

 _ **One Month Later...**_

Viktor stood outside Elizabeth's lab. His heart was beating at one million miles per hour. In his hand as the ring box containing his grandmother's wedding. It was a family heirloom she had passed down to Viktor. It had taken him a lot of courage, but he couldn't fight the way he felt any longer. He was going to ask her right then and there.

Looking at some lab equipment, Elizabeth heard Viktor fumbling at the door. Smiling, she turned and looked at him, not seeing the ring. "Dr. Adler...? What a surprise!"

Sweating bullets, Viktor could hardly contain his excitement. "I have something I would like to talk to you about."

Elizabeth smiled. She, too, had news she wanted to tell Viktor. She knew how much he loved the work, and how he hated to be interrupted. She figured before they dived into what she erroneously assumed was the work, she would give him the good news before they began.

"But first, look!" She almost screamed, lifting up her left hand. On her third finger sat an engagement ring. "Richard proposed! Isn't it great!?"

Viktor felt as if he'd been stabbed in the heart, then punched in the gut, all preceding being thrown into a woodchipper alive. He was numb with disbelief. His head was spinning in confusion. He didn't know what to say or how to react. None of what Elizabeth had just said made any sense to him. For a moment, he thought he was trapped in a nightmare.

He slowly slipped the ring box into his trouser back pocket. He faked what could hardly be considered a smile, mumbled something under his breath and gave Elizabeth a congratulatroy hug. It all felt so very wrong, but she seemed so happy and he cared about her too much to ruin the moment for her.

Almost as if on cue for a poorly written joke on Adler's life, Dr. Richard Evans opened the door to the lab. In one hand was a briefcase, and the other was a memo from Bio-Lab.

"We did it. We got the grant!" Richard said happily. He was so excited about the grant he had honestly even forgotten he had proposed to Elizabeth earlier that very day. As Elizabeth went to hug him in excitement, he sighed. "Oh, we're finally going to prove once and for all that Animaria really did exist."

Viktor was dumbstruck. In one of Richard's hands was the future of his career, and the other the love of his life. He was confused to say the least. Above all, though... he was _angry_.  
. . .

 _ **Eleven Months Later...**_

It had been the worst year of Viktor's life. Due to his normally quiet nature, he had not confronted Richard about what had happened. He suffered through being Richard's best man at the wedding of the woman he loved more than anything in the world. He suffered knowing she had become pregnant with the child he believed should had been his. He suffered seeing the two cuddle everyday at work. He suffered smelling her perfume day in and day out. He suffered.

At that particular day, he was at a press conference for the trip to the Amazon that was _finally_ going to happen. Although it had been cleared by Bio-Lab nearly a year earlier with the wedding, honeymoon, pregnancy, and Elizabeth's post-delivery recovery time, the trip to prove the existence of Animaria had been delayed until that point. As a way to advertise the event and get the findings back in the media, Mr. Collins had arranged for the meeting to take place that day and for Dr. Evans and Dr. Adler to run the conference while Elizabeth sat to the side, taking care of her newborn child (who they named Cole).

As they stood backstage awaiting the conference to start, Viktor sat alone to the side on a lone chair he had grabbed from a table. He stared down at the floor, nothing but Elizabeth's face on his mind. He jumped up, startled, as Richard placed a hand on Viktor's shoulder.

"Hey, buddy... What's wrong?" Richard asked.

That's when it happened. The past eleven months worth of pain flowed out of Viktor right then and there. He leapt up off the chair and towered over Richard. Sneering, he grabbed Richard by the shoulders and lifted him up, slamming him into a wall.

"You want to know what's wrong!? You took my wife and family from me! You backstabbed me and asked Elizabeth to marry you! You knew I was going to ask her! Why did you do it!?"

Richard swallowed hard. "I... I had no idea you still felt that way! I... After we spoke about you wanting to propose, I began to realize I had feelings for her, too! You... You told me you weren't going to ask! I waited for a month and you never asked! I thought you weren't going to!"

"You didn't ask me! Why!? Why have you ruined my life!?" Adler screamed.

"I... I..."

"Answer me!"

"I didn't want to risk that you would still ask! I'm... I'm sorry! I really didn't know! I... I didn't _want_ to know..." Richard admitted, breaking down into tears.

Adler stopped at that. Seeing Richard cry, he began to doubt his conviction. Although he saw Richard had known it was still a possibility that he would ask, he could see that Richard felt badly. It wasn't enough of an apology, but it was a beginning. Viktor let go of Richard and let him drop to his feet.

As he did so, a stagehand approached them and directed them to the stage area. Viktor looked out at the cameras and reporters. It wasn't nearly enough of a consolation prize, but he knew he at least still had his career and everything he had worked for in his life still there.

After a brief intro by Collins, the floor was opened to the reporters. A man was the first to speak, saying, "What makes you think you will find evidence of Animaria in the Amazon?"

Richard placed a hand on Viktor's back, gesturing him forward. It was a small gesture as an apology, but it was something nonetheless. As Viktor stepped forward, though, something horrible happened. The reporter noticed Viktor moving forward and decided to block that. He called out for Richard to take the microphone, hoping an American's reply would sell a better byline for the front page.

As Richard began to speak, Viktor stared at him with fury. The rest of the meeting was a blur for him: they took a picture of the expedition team, more questions were thrown to Richard, refreshments were served courtesy of Bio-Lab, and then suddenly he was back in his hotel room. Alone.

Viktor stared at his briefcase. He was to leave for the Amazon in the morning. A good portion of his mind wanted to abandon everything and just go back home to Russia. Tears were streaming down his face.

 _No! Then Richard will have_ _won_ _! I have worked too hard and too long to lose_ _everything_ _! I will go tomorrow and I will find the last piece to my research! If I can't have happiness, at least I can still have my_ _fame_ _!_

. . .

 _ **One Day Later...**_

Dr. Adler walked through the jungle foliage expertly. Ever since he had joined the team to find evidence of Animaria, he had been stuck behind a desk. It felt good for him to finally get back to his roots and be on an expedition. For the first time in a while, he felt at peace.

"Richard! Dr. Adler! Come here!" Elizabeth's voice could be heard crying out from a ways off.

As they headed to Dr. Landors, Viktor sneered. _She has calls me Dr. Adler, but him she calls by his first name! She never saw me as nothing but an associate! What a fool was I!? This research was all there was between us! This research project has done nothing but ruin my life!_

Arriving at Elizabeth's location, Richard asked his wife what had her so concerned as Adler walked in lazily and half-hearted. He had been happy until he had heard Elizabeth's shout. It had put a damper on his attitude and he began to even dislike being outdoors. When he noticed movement before the Evans family, though, he rushed over and knelt beside Elizabeth.

"What is it!?" Elizabeth demanded.

"I don't know..." Richard answered, concern on his face.

Dr. Adler could see what looked to be a small puddle of green froth. In the midst of the frothy mixture were four seeds, green tendrils protruding out of them searching for... for what, Adler knew not. What Adler began to realize, though, was that Dr. Elizabeth Evans had inadvertently uncovered what they had been searching for. He knew from the stories that Master Org was basically the anti-thesis of nature. Seeing the seeds, and noting how they had not taken root, Dr. Viktor Adler surmised the froth may be an affect of nature itself, visibly rejecting the seeds and creating a sort of membrane at the spot to stop the seeds from planting themselves.

As Adler thought, Elizabeth reached forward to touch one of the seeds. He was surprised when one of the tendrils whipped forward, as if to attack Elizabeth. Seeing how the seeds defended themselves left little doubt in Adler's mind that he had stumbled upon what he had hoped he would find.

"The remnants of Master Org..." Dr. Adler said, trying to hide the awe in his voice.

Richard and Elizabeth's heads snapped back instinctively. They had known Master Org had been allegedley moved to the Amazon, but they hadn't once thought they would actually find his living remains. They were still certain they had gone to the Amazon to find clues to the Animarium, and not anything about Master Org himself.

Noting their reaction, Dr. Adler thought quickly. "I will destroy it. _Immediately_. Just stay back."

As he waved for his two former friends away from him, Viktor reached into his backpack and pulled out a sample dish. With a pair of tweezers he pulled each seed out of the froth and placed them gently into the dish, closing it off with a twist on lid.

As he stood up, he slipped the sample dish back into his bag. As Viktor did so, Richard furrowed his brow. "Viktor...? I thought you were going to destroy it."

"Oh, I will," Viktor lied. "I just need to go back to my tent to do so. I want to look at something in my research as I do it, because it may help me know how not to get myself hurt."

"Richard, we should help Dr. Adler do this," Elizabeth asked her husband.

"Oh, no!" Adler gasped out. "No, no... I don't want to bother you two, what with baby Cole needing his parents. Mentioning that, we should probably return to the camp. We're three hours away from the camp and we need to return before dark to give the guides a chance to return home before dark. It would be selfish of us to ask them to do that after they spent so much time caring for your precious baby today..."

"He's right, Honey," Richard said. "Let's head back."

As the trio turned and began to walk back, a figure stood silently in the shadows. It was Master Org's faithful servant, Onikage. The Org who was responsible for moving Master Org to the Amazon in the first place. Although Future: Omega Ranger was looking at a memory in Adler's mind, he used his Third Eye Ability to linger on Onikage and peer into his mind.

While Adler had been reaching for the seeds that once belonged to Master Org, Onikage had been ready to attack. He had decided against it, though, when he felt a strong connection he could not understand occur between Master Org and Dr. Adler. Concentrating as hard as he could, Onikage had sent a prayer to Master Org. On occasion if Onikage concentrated hard enough, he could hear Master Org and he would give Onikage instructions. At that moment, Onikage could hear Master Org loud and clear:

 _My servant Onikage... do not interfere. I can feel this man's sorrow... His soul is damaged... His_ _Heart_ _is damaged. He is susceptible to me! I will send influences to his mind, Onikage. I can_ _feel_ _it! Yes... He will succumb to my Will! I will bend his fragile mind and convince him to let me enter him! By this time tomorrow, Onikage... Master Org will be reborn!_

. . .

 _ **The Next Morning...**_

Richard was humming to himself as he began to make his wife's backpack for her while she nursed Cole. Looking through her stuff, he stumbled across a small red orb. Future: Omega Ranger readily recognized the the orb as being an Animal Crystal, an object the former Beast Watch Power Rangers from Krypton had left behind on Earth before attempting to create a new set of Power Rangers from the Starlight Crystals. Richard looked at it curiously and picked it up.

Walking to the other side of their large tent, Richard found Elizabeth setting Cole back in his crib. As she did, Richard held up the Animal Crystal.

"What's this, Honey? I mean... I've seen it a few times in your jewelry, but I never really looked at it. Is that a _lion_ inside?" Richard asked.

Elizabeth laughed as she took it out of his hand. "Yes. It's some sort of family heirloom. It's been passed down in my family to the oldest for generations."

"So Cole will get it now?" Richard asked, smiling as Elizabeth pocketed the Animal Crystal.

"Yes, he certainly will." She answered, leaning in and giving him a kiss.

As she did, they heard a scream from outside. Fearing it may be some sort of predator that had entered the camp, Elizabeth grabbed Cole before following Richard outside.

Walking to the clearing outside their camp area, they found the body of one of the guides who had entered the camp early to make breakfast for the research trio. He had no pulse, Elizabeth found out after checking. Walking forward a bit more, they found Dr. Adler standing in the path, eyes closed. As they got closer, he could feel them. He opened his eyes, revealing an eerie yellow color to his irises. The tendrilled roots had made their way up to his head, rooting into Adler's brain to have more control over him. On each of his cheeks the roots could be seen pulsing out like enlarged veins.

Seeing the Evans family before him, Adler dropped the sample dish which had still been in his hand from the night before. He then gave them a cruel smile.

"And _now_ \- hahaha! I will have my _revenge_!" Adler yelled as he saw the Evans family flee back to their tents.

Within moments, Adler was at the tents. He entered the Evans family tent, flipping over the crib that was blocking the door as he did. He found them cowering in a corner, backing away from him. Elizabeth was holding a bundle of blankets in her arms, though Omega Ranger could tell there was no heat signature coming from the bundle. After some investigation, he found out that Elizabeth had bundled little baby Cole in a different set of blankets and had hid him under a table, hoping he wouldn't cry out for Adler to hear him.

"You did it... You took the seeds, didn't you!?" Richards demanded as he tried to shield Cole and Elizabeth behind him, backing up as Adler walked closer to them.

Adler did not answer. He simply smiled and lunged at them. As he did, they bolted out of the tent. He sneered and walked to the tent entrance. He shook his head as he saw them gaining good distance on him. He then suddenly felt something in his mind. A thought, but not his own. It was telling him what to do. Following the command, he outstretched his hand. As he did, he saw two massive green tendrils shoot out of his wrist. He watched in awe as the tendrils wrapped around the target: Richard Evans.

Turning around, Elizabeth saw Richard covered in what appeared to be vines. She screamed in horror, pausing to get to him.

"Run!" Richard demanded as he felt the vines tighten around him. He sighed in relief as he saw her actually turn and run for safety.

Meanwhile, Viktor Adler focused and caused the tendrils to retract and pull Richard back into the tent. Adler smiled as he dragged the man to his feet.

"Please don't do this, Viktor... Please, no. This isn't right!" Richard pleaded.

"Ha! You are a fool! There is no more Viktor! Viktor's life ended the day you proposed to Elizabeth! And you have no right to tell me what is right and what is wrong! And now I will begin my _revenge_! And thus will begin my reign as _Master Org_!"

"Viktor, no-!" Richard cried out. As he tried to speak more, though, he found that he couldn't. Master Org had encircled his tendrils up and around Richard's neck. Before Richard knew what was happening, Master Org squeezed and snapped Richard's neck.

"Ah-hahaha! Revenge tastes so _good_!" Master Org said as he tossed Richard's body to the side. "Now let us see how your 'missus' is doing, eh!?"

Running out of the tent, Master Org didn't take long to find Elizabeth running wildly. He sneered as they stood face to face with each other. He then reached out and grabbed the bundle out of her arms, pushing her to the ground as he did. He had gone mad, his thirst for blood and revenge growing insatiable. He wanted Cole's Life.

Ripping through the blankets, he found there was no baby in them. Looking at Elizabeth with Rage on his mind, he demanded, "Where is he? Tell me! Tell me or I'll-"

"You'll never find him! I don't _care_ what you do to me!" Elizabeth cried out defiantly. As she did, she stared at him in confusion. At the man who had once been a great friend, nearly a brother to her. She could not understand what would drive him to becoming that way.

Without another word, Master Org stretched out a hand and shot his deadly tendrils out at her. He watched as they enveloped around her like snakes after their prey. He began laughing wildly as he heard her screams of pain.

"And now you know how you made _me_ feel!" Master Org screamed. "And now you know my _pain_!"

"Please... Viktor... stop... Viktor..." She cried out.

"You... you said my name! It's been so long!" Master Org said, a bright glimpse of his former self shining through. Before he could second guess himself though, the Org part in him took over, filling his mind with evil. He smiled as he then tightened the tendrils. "And _that_ name will be the last that will ever spill forth from your lips! Ah-hahaha!"

Within a matter of moments, she was gone. Tossing her Lifeless body casually into the jungle, Master Org turned and began to make his way back to the camp. He was determined to find Cole and snuff the Life out of him as well. He was the last living testament of the betrayal that had ruined his life, and he was determined to get rid of it so he could finally embrace his new life as Master Org. As he made his way to the tent area, though, he found himself face to face with what looked like a small blonde boy.

"And who are you!?" Master Org demanded. "How did a little boy end up here in the Rain Forest!? Are you lost!? Ah-hahaha! If so, I feel sorry for _you_ , because you are in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

The boy shook his head slowly. "I only feel badly that I did not arrive in time. I do not know who you are, but your energy comes from pure evil... You have no Heart. I can feel it. You are an anomaly. You are a Nobody. I must end you before you can infect my home. I am Erutan, defender of nature."

Master Org howled with laughter. "Haha! You!? A little boy!? I will _tear_ you apart!"

Suddenly, White Energy mixed with the Symbol Power for Forest began to encircle Erutan. As it did, images and flashes passed through his mind. For a moment, he could see Master Org in his true form. He could feel himself fighting against Master Org, trying with all his might to defeat him. He could feel great Animal Spirits flowing through him. He was confused, but Future: Omega Ranger was not. He knew what... _who_ Erutan really was: the resurrected Animus.

"Master!" Onikage yelled as he appeared from a cloud of Ninja smoke. "There is something wrong here... That boy is too dangerous for you right now in your weakened state! You must recuperate and regain your powers at the Org Nexus!"

Master Org looked at Onikage. It took a while for Master Org's memories to filter through Adler's brain and remind him who was before him. "Ah... Onikage, my loyal servant! Yes! Take me to the Org Nexus! We have planning to do so that we can rebuild our empire!"

Before Erutan could react, Onikage teleported away with Master Org. Sighing, and slightly confused, Erutan turned and made his way to the camp. There he found the people of the Amazon there, who he had brought to the camp. They were a good natured people, having been descendants of both former people of Animaria and also of the High Ones. They were the people from where Princess Diana aka the late Wonder Woman had come. When Erutan had felt the great evil that was Master Org reawaken, he went straight to them for help.

The tribe leader held Cole in one arm. With the other arm, in his hand, he held the Blazing Lion Animal Crystal. As the tribe leader held it, a memory flashed in Erutan's mind. It was of Baskin, the former leader of the Animaria Royal Guard and former wielder of the Blazing Lion Animal Crystal. The memory faded slowly as Erutan composed himself.

"This boy is all that survives of the family. I read on one of their plaques that his name is Cole Evans. In his blankets there also is a picture of him and his family," The tribe leader said.

"Take him then. There is nothing more we can do," Erutan explained. "And keep that crystal. It feels... very important. I feel strongly that once he comes of age, he must return from your tribe to the world and that crystal is tied to it... I must go now. There are other forces threatening nature I must stop."

"Yes, Erutan. As you say." The tribe leader said as Erutan vanished into the wind. He then looked down at Cole and smiled. "Welcome to Amazonia. We will train you up in our ways, young man. Then, when the time comes, you will return to your people and just as Erutan said, you will be a fiery leader who will do much good. I can _feel_ it."

. . .

In the Org Nexus, Master Org stood in his private chambers like he had done so many times three thousand years earlier. Sighing, he shot a ball of Grey Energy at the center podium and started his communication to the Underworld.

"What is the meaning of this!?" The Master, Octomus, demanded from the blue flame dancing before Master Org.

"It is I, Master Org," He said. "I have finally returned, Master!"

Octomus squinted his remaining eye (the other having been donated to his faithful warrior, Koragg, for his Magic Shield). "It _is_ you, yet... why do you wear a Human meat suit?"

"It was my only way to return, Master, but I assure you I am ready to get back to work."

"No, you are not..." Octomus replied. "Not yet, at least. If you are to resurrect your Orgs, you must know most of them will not take kindly to your new form. Find a way to make yourself look more like an Org. A horn would do you wonders... and remember your powers need to stem from your horn. I can feel that they seem to be coming from your _hands_ for some reason."

"Yes, Master!" Master Org cried out. "Whatever you say!"

"Keep me updated," Octomus said curtly as he ended the transmission.

Master Org stood in his private chambers, alone. He was confused, not knowing how he would follow through with what Octomus had ordered him to do. Then, suddenly, Viktor Adler's brain began to churn. Schematics for a horn matrix popped into his mind, able to redirect the energy flow from his hands to his horn. Smiling, Master Org knew he had found the solution he needed to recreate his Org empire.

. . .

 _ **Underworld of Earth M54331Z-B**_

Octomus sat in his massive room, being the giant bulging octopus that he had mutated into. He saw Morticon and Koragg kneeling before him as quickly as they entered the room.

"Yes, Master?" Koragg asked reverently.

"Recently the Knight Daggeron returned, having Time traveled thirty years from his Time to the present. I have just heard word from my creation from eons ago, Master Org. He, too, has returned," Master Octomus told his two servants.

"How odd that he would return now after so long," Koragg though outloud.

"Indeed. I believe this is a sign for us. It is nearly time for the Underworld to rise, my minions. Morticon!? Go fetch Necrolai and bring her here. Koragg? Begin training our Hidiacks. We must be ready for the upcoming battle. Our goal will be to wipe all surface dwellers from out of this Magic Realm. Then, we shall attack Earth proper and take it for ourselves!"

Koragg nodded. "Yes, my Master!"

"We will crush them!" Morticon yelled as he, too, turned and stood up to go and get the Queen of the Vampires.

As they left the main room, Koragg turned to Morticon. "Finally, after all these years, we are going to show the Wizards our _true_ power!"

Morticon slashed the air with his sword, the Fang of the Master. "And they will fall! Each and every last one of them!"

Koragg laughed slowly and nodded. "Yes... Finally! It is time for the return of the Master..."


	16. 1985: The Karovan War

**1985: The Karovan War**

 ** _1985 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

It was a vile creature who lurked in the forest outside the familial living area on KO-35. It reeked of Black Emotional Energy... the energy of Death itself. Yellow Energy also seeped off his being, having once been a Humanoid who had been picked on and bullied because of his awkward behavior. He was a despicable lifeform who had betrayed his own kind, only for his own elevation. He was a cancer and a parasite to any organization that fostered him, but at that time he was lying in wait. Dark Specter had no idea how badly that vile creature wanted to usurp the United Alliance of Evil from him. The creature in question was none other than the man formerly known as Novact. It was the secret agent of the UAE, known as Darkonda.

 _Ugh... I wish Eyeguy was still around._ Darkonda complained in his mind. _At least he was used to going around to kidnap_ _children_ _. That's who he was, what he did! Me, though? I'm a_ _fighter_ _! Not an abductor of those who cannot defend themselves! Dark Specter squanders my talents!_

Anger boiled in his mind. He knew at that very moment that Lord Zedd was heading a war on the very outskirts of the Karovan System, with forces from KO-1, KO-10, KO-27, and KO-35 fighting back with their military forces. Dark Specter had informed Darkonda that the number one reason he didn't want Darkonda there was to not show the universe at large that Darkonda had been under the United Alliance for quite some time. Dark Specter had become quite adept at masking his trails, but if word got out about Darkonda he knew that Zordon would be able to quickly map out a connection between all of Darkonda's exploits. Before long, Zordon would be able to see fully what Dark Specter was planning if he traced Darkonda's routes and different places he's attacked.

Darkonda had been targetting many different planets and governments, stealing things and making it look as if it was a random thief who had stolen the artifacts. What Zordon or anyone fighting the United Alliance of Evil knew not was that the things Darkonda was stealing were essential to Dark Specter's plans and timetables. Slowly amassing an army strong enough to topple even anything Zordon had in store to defend Earth and, more specifically, all of Zordon's research that was being guarded in Angel Grove's abandoned warehouse district. If things continued like Dark Specter had planned, the final phase of Project Black Genesis would end with Dark Specter personally attacking Earth in the year 1993.

 _And yet here I am, relegated to Dark Specter's stupid notion that the key to Black Genesis is in that hairbrained scheme Queen Bansheera had called Alphabet Soup!_ Darkonda lamented in anger. _But soon the time will come when I will strike Dark Specter down when he least expects it!_

Darkonda had been given specific orders: use the device Deviot had created to scan any children Darkonda would uncover. Deviot apparently had created a sort of algorithm to check for things he believed would create the ultimate leader that the Xenotome had prophesied to Bansheera that would come out of Alphabet Soup. The attributes Deviot hypothesized the chosen child would have were an equal natural connection to each portion of the Emotional Spectrum, a strong connection to the Morphing Grid, and the Animal Spirit of a Human. That final piece of the puzzle was interesting, since it was extremely rare for a being to have its own species be its Animal Spirit. Deviot speculated that such a being would be able to actually take upon themselves the ability to learn _any_ Animal Spirit and wield it as their own.

 _Blah, blah, blah._ Darkonda grumbled to himself as he thought of his instructions. _Basically: Darkonda? Go wave this scanner at children until it dings! What a futile effort! If Dark Specter hadn't sensed a strong connection to the Morphing Grid on this planet, I would be able to at least do something in the war ongoing around this blasted system! Ugh!_

Right then, Darkonda peered through the leaves and found two small children. One was a boy, the other a girl. They were playing it seemed, and speaking to each other. Paying attention, Darkonda began to look at what the two were doing. The small boy wearing a red jumpsuit pulled out an expandable ball made of many pieces that allowed it to retract into a small object to fit into one's pocket, all the way to a round object bigger than the children's heads. After having caused it to grow large, he placed it before him. Darkonda forced himself to swallow an audible gasp as the ball floated before the boy. Both he and the young girl, who Darkonda presumed to be a sister or a friend, placed their hands out before them and caused the "ball" to hover between them using Psychic Energy.

 _I never knew Karovan Humans could use telepathy at such a young age!_ Darkonda marveled. Knowing he had found some "special" children, he quickly pointed Deviot's device at the two.  
The young boy seemed to have a natural affinity to the Morphing Grid, causing the first scan to come in positive. The mini computer then scanned the young boy for his Animal Spirit. Darkonda swallowed hard when he saw it come in as that of a Human.

 _Could it be!?_ Darkonda wondered in awe. _I did it! I found the chosen leader of Alphabet Soup! It wasn't a fairytale after all! But... But it was only because of_ _me_ _that the chosen one was found! I will be promoted back to full member of the United Alliance in no time! And then... then will I_ _stomp_ _Dark Specter!_

That's when Darkonda's premature celebration was smashed. The young boy's connection to the Emotional Spectrum showed it was limited to the White, Red, and Blue Spectrums. A very special combination, but not one which would help Darkonda pick himself back up.

 _Drat!_ Darkonda cursed. Sneering in disappointment, he scanned the girl just to say he did so. He thought nothing of the scan as it mimicked the boy's results. After that? Darkonda stared at his device in silence, dumbstruck. The girl indeed had a perfect connection to the Emotional Spectrum. She was the one Deviot said had the characteristics needed to lead Alphabet Soup.

 _Yes!_ Darkonda cheered in his mind. _The girl... Now all I have to do is get the girl..._

 _. . ._

Lord Zedd cackled as he saw the Karovan forces begin to crumble before the awesome might of his empire. One by one, they were dropping like flies and they knew there was nothing they could do to stop Zedd.

"Just fall already!" Zedd laughed, gyrating his body as his laugh echoed off the walls of the throne room in his ship.

"They will fall when they refuse to keep fighting," Rycon said simply. "There's nothing else to it. They are simple slime who think if they give their lives to a hopeless cause, that they will somehow be destroyed more honorably. Idiots. They were still destroyed. We win, they lose. They should just join us..."

"But then there would be no fun in _smashing_ them!" Lord Zedd cackled. "Charge our lasers to full power! We will crush them here and now. Soon, Dark Specter will have the Karova System, and it will be because of _me_! Fire!"

Lord Zedd watched with great glee as he heard the spacestation upon which he stood hum to life. Every light dimmed a bit as the main blaster amassed the power needed to decimate the rest of the Karovan fleet. Gripping his metallic Z Staff in one hand, Zedd let his fingers on his free hand dance in the air as he watched, the glutton for destruction in him waiting to be satiated.

But then, suddenly, the lights went back to normal, with no explosion. "What!? What is happening!?"

Rycon furrowed her brow as she placed her hand to her ear, the communicator in her ear giving her a message. The Shapeshifter from Egypticus then coughed slightly and stepped forward to address the commander of the fleet.

"My lord? It would seem that we do not have enough power cells to complete the operation," Rycon said, speaking quickly for the news to land simply, following the principle of ripping off a bandaid quickly off a wound.

"What!? Preposterous! This is a state of the art vessel I bought from Lothor Industries!" Zedd cried out.

"Yes, well... that's the problem. You told us to cut back on our budget to be able to buy the best vessel they offered, but we didn't have enough funds to have more than two blasts of full power," Rycon reported. "We used one to get into the Karova System, and another to rid us of the first wave of soldiers. We just don't have enough power... It was too expensive, my lord."

Lord Zedd brimmed with Red Energy. "And who's responsibility was it to do the budget!?"

"Umm... well, mine sir, but I did everything based on your requests and-"

"Ahhh! Failure!" Zedd screamed, pointing his Z Staff at Rycon and blasting her down. Smoke danced off her as she lay on the floor, unconscious.

"Z-Putties!?" Lord Zedd screamed, causing them to appear in his throne room. "Grab her and toss her out into space. The Afterlife is too good for her... I want her to _think_ about how she betrayed me as she floats in space!"

As the Z Putties gathered around Rycon and picked her up to carry her out of the room, Lord Zedd turned and stared out the window again. He could see the ships from all around Karova begin to amass themselves before his fleet. Lord Zedd glowed with Red Energy, enraged because he knew without his super attack that he had no way of defeating them. He walked slowly over to a panel and, humiliated, pushed the button to let his forces know to retreat.

Lord Zedd bowed his head and with a heavy heart made his way back to his throne. A throne he knew Dark Specter would surely take from him for failing. Dark Specter did not care for failure, and although Lord Zedd had always accomplished his tasks, he knew that only one mistake would demote him greatly. King Aradon of one of the UAE's Machine Empires was sure to be promoted due to this, taking Lord Zedd's highly coveted rank in the Alliance.

As Zedd sat down, pondering his bad situation, he felt something _odd_ in his throne room. Suddenly, a massive vortex appeared before him. Anger filling him once again, replacing his self pity fest, he jumped up and pointed his Z Staff at the vortex.

"Who dares enter my ship unannounced!?" Zedd demanded. "Show yourself and prepare for your destruction!"

A tall, grey Humanoid stepped out of the blinding white vortex. He seemed to almost be made of rock as he stepped heavily onto the metal surface of the throne room. He had red menacing eyes, but they seemed to pierce whatever he looked. They somehow hinted at a massive amount of intellect behind them, weighing and measuring everything in the massive man's line of sight. He seemed to be very muscular, but his power seemed to be more than even his stature portrayed.  
He chuckled as he looked at Lord Zedd. "Amusing... this is who Dark Specter has as his top general? A man who has to turn tail and run away from a battle he was dominating? You looked tough from afar, Lord Zedd, and the stories told tales of how powerful you are. I see now how _tall_ those tales actually were. I can sense how weak you really are..."

"How _dare_ you speak to me in such a manner!?" Zedd cried out. He shot a massive blast of power from his Z Staff directly at the intruder. Zedd could not help but gasp as the man put out his hand and seemed to _absorb_ the attack.

"I supposed I need not fear your presence in my universe." The man said, laughing. "I visited the Armada being created by Emperor Mavro and in no time he will wipe all traces of the United Alliance off the face of the universe based on what I just saw. Even _Vekar_ and his incompetence could lead the Armada against the likes of _you_."

"Who _are_ you!?" Zedd demanded, his Red Energy becoming so concentrated in him that the entire room was lit by it.

"I am the future ruler of the universe," The man said simply. "All I need to do is wait for your puny empire to fall, then come in and destroy the Armada myself with my power. You are no longer a threat to me. If you happen to survive this circus Dark Specter is trying to maintain, then you will be able to see my power first hand."

"Answer me! Who are you!?" Zedd screamed, though he was merely throwing a temper tantrum at that point.

The man's eyes turned from red to yellow at that question. He smirked. "I may as well tell you, since you seem impatient. Then I will destroy you. I hail from Apokolips. I am a God. I am Darkseid."

Before Zedd could react, two beams erupted from Darkseid and hit Lord Zedd. Convulsing from the blast, Zedd dropped to his knees before rolling down the stairs that led up to his throne. He lay in a heap, smoking near the spot he had done nearly the same thing to his once trusted assistant, Rycon.

"Impressive," Darkseid said. "He survived."

Darkseid then turned and walked back through the vortex. It closed with a _boom_ as there was suddenly no light left within Zedd's throne room. The only thing left there was the unconscious Lord Zedd, struggling to breath. Deep in his mind, though, something stirred. The shock of the hit was so much that it unlocked something within his mind that had not been allowed to be awoke for eons: it was the Mind Fortress of Commander Zedd, and like a phoenix from the ashes it began to slowly rise back up from the recesses of the shared mind of Zedd and the Dark Lord.

. . .

Darkonda shot a small volt of Yellow Energy at the orb. It was invisible to anyone watching, but it was enough to cause the ball to float away from the two children. He chuckled as he watched the boy in the red jumpsuit stand up and rush after the ball. Moving quickly, Darkonda then ran from behind the trees he stood behind and grabbed the young girl with wild hair and a yellow jumpsuit. As he did, she screamed out for her brother.

"Ahh! Andros! Help me! Ahh!" Cried out the young girl, five years of age at the most. Tears were streaming down her face as she continued to cry out for her brother.

A few yards away, the young boy named Andros grabbed the ball and turned around as he heard the shrieks of terror. "Karone? Karone!?"

"Andros! Help me!" The frightened child screamed.

The only thing going through young Karone's mind was thoughts of her older brother suddenly appearing, saving her from her captor. She was too young to realize that it was too late: even if Andros had been there, he couldn't have stopped Darkonda. The only reason Darkonda did what he did in secret was so that there were no witnesses to pin it back on him. Everything about Alphabet Soup was to be done with the utmost secrecy.

Suddenly, Karone found herself on a ship hovering around the orbit of KO-35. She looked around, panicking. Fear was dripping out of her, and Darkonda was feeding off of it with great pleasure.

"Andros! Andros!" Karone shrieked.

"Shut up! There is no more 'Andros', you little brat!" Darkonda said, pushing her down onto her back. He then pointed his sword and her and laughed. "The only family you will have from now on is the United Alliance of Evil! Ah-hahaha!"

Meanwhile, back on KO-35, Andros' stomach was in knots. He felt as if he was in a nightmare. He had only been able to catch a quick glimpse of Darkonda as he hid behind a tree before teleporting away. Andros just kept going around in circles, trying to convince himself that he had not lost his beloved little sister.

"Andros!?" A guard of the community yelled as he saw Andros in tears, shaking uncontrollably as he searched for Karone. "What's wrong!?"

"Kar- Karone! She's taken!" Andros cried out in pain. "I don't know where she is! Someone showed up and took her!"

The guard furrowed his brow. "Then let us go to security immediately. We'll tap into the community's network and create a holo show of what happened."

It all happened in a blur. Before Andros knew what was happening, he was in a room in the guard's station. He watched as the camera system set up in KO-35 began to use the advanced technology to recreate what happened in a panorama-esque fashion: the surveillance was able to tap into the cerebral signals of anyone on KO-35 and show what that person was seeing from their point of view. KO-35's computers were constantly receiving the images from the minds of their citizens. Future: Omega Ranger made a note to himself as he watched that, remembering that SPD and Time Force had been able to create their Time traveling cameras through which the Power Ranger Archives were watched based on that very tech.

As the techs worked on the images, they found everything from Karone's perspective was blocked when it came to Darkonda's face. They were having a very difficult time figuring out why until the head scientist came in and told them to stop wasting their efforts. He said that Lothor Industries had recently created a device that blocked one's image from being recorded, causing it to be legal based on a lawsuit about privacy intrusions. Darkonda had indeed been using such a device, and once Karone had laid eyes on him the images were blocked from the surveillance system. Only Andros' slight glimpse of him in the shadows survived.

"We'll find her, Andros," The head guard said. "Don't worry. She couldn't have gone far. We've already called your parents and they're on their way to pick you up. I'm sure Karone will be at the dinner table with you soon, okay? We'll get her. Don't worry."

The young boy had a look of determination on his face as the guard told him the reaffirming words. "We _have_ to find her! I love her so much! She's my best friend, do you understand!?"

"I understand Andros. We'll do all we can."

Andros sat, his mind buzzing as the guards continued analyzing the file. His sister's screams of terror, yelling out her big brother's name haunted his thoughts. They echoed in his mind, over and over again. The sound of complete confidence in her voice that Andros was the solution to save her drove the guilt straight into his Heart. _I'm sorry I wasn't there to save you, Karone... I promise I will find you. If it takes everything I have, Karone... I_ _will_ _find you!_


	17. 1986: A Deal with the Devil

**1986: A Deal with the Devil**

 ** _1986 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

Millions of years ago, an evil man named Lothor traveled from another universe to a new one, to absorb all of its powers for himself. A group of survivors from the old universe followed him and fought him, leading to his Spirit being trapped within a powerful artifact named the Gem of Souls.

One of the people in the group which fought Lothor was named Belle. She was the wife of a powerful sorceror, who had once been an agent of darkness fighting to redeem himself. A traitor to their cause named Regina had defied them and ultimately gained control of the sorceror, whose name was Rumple, forcing him to rip from Belle's chest her very Heart. Regina became the Demon Queen known as Bansheera and Rumple was transformed by her into a Demon by the name of Jinxer. Many eons after that incident they were both trapped by the Demon Darkonda, working for the Sorceror of the Sands and the guardian of Earth, Gosei. Before that had happened, though, another entity had entered the universe due to the interactions between Rumple, Bansheera, and Lothor. This entity was named Xelleb, and she was Belle's Nobody.

A Nobody is created when one's Heart is taken from them through Magic (usually Dark Magic). The Magical means of such an extraction causes an odd sort of Energy indirectly tied to the Emotional Spectrum to fill the person whose Heart was taken. That energy is known as Grey Energy, and is a perversion of White Energy (the power of Life) and Black Energy (the power of Death). The being will have no real emotions, only the memories of what emotions were in the life that they inherited. The term "inherited" is used in this instance because the new being is in fact _not_ the person whose Heart was removed, but a whole new being born emotionless, but with the memories of the former occupant of their body. The former Spirit leaves and heads to whatever Afterlife may await them, while a new Spirit is fitted into the body. Such it was with Belle.

The name Xelleb is an anagram of Belle, with the letter "X" added as an instinctual custom of the Nobody, to distinguish between the real person and their Nobody. Xelleb was the first of her kind in Universe M54331Z and is appropriately the species' Alpha (a designation given to the first of a species). After she awoke from her stupor (having one's Heart ripped from one's chest, regardless of Magic's involvement, is a traumatizing event and as such requires a vast amount of recuperation), she had come across a group of thieves and was taken in by them. She traveled the universe, immortal and emotionless. After many encounters with many different peoples, living amongst them and learning of their traditions, she found she was able to begin to feel for herself. Not mimic the emotions of Belle, but actually feel for herself. She discovered firsthand that a Nobody was able to, given sufficient time, regrow its Heart.

That was not enough for Xelleb, though. She still had memories of Belle's life, and she longed for those memories to be her own. She could see how Rumple used to look at her, and she inherited the love Belle had for him into her own Heart. She began to _envy_ Belle, and she wanted to have Rumple look at her with the same love and devotion he had for Belle. Along the way, she grew to have a lust for power. She "learned" that people were insignificant compared to her, and that if she wanted to get anything she could easily destroy anyone if needed. Her thirst for power to get anything she wanted evolved into a need in her Heart to become the ruler and manipulater of all she saw. She would gain absolute power, and along the way conquer "her" past by proving that she, Xelleb, was better than Belle by getting Rumple to love her unconditionally.

At one point, Xelleb gave herself to an evil being known as Emperor Mavro. She was, in fact, in love with him. She found his demeanor greatly attractive, for he feared no one and had great ambition to conquer the universe, with the potential to back up that desire. Although she longed for Rumple's love, she had no desire to _be_ with him: she just wanted to know she could have him, thus proving to herself that Belle was the inferior version of herself. In the end, her new grown evil Heart belonged (symbolically) to Mavro. They joined forces to create an army the likes of which had the potential to down the evil Dark Specter (a creation of Queen Bansheera, herself). Along the way Xelleb gave birth to two successors to her throne: Vrak and Vekar. While Vekar was the first born, Vekar was by far the better of the two when it came to conquering his "prey".

After that, Xelleb was content. She could see the pieces of her plan slowly falling into place. That was, until, a face from the past re-appeared: Lothor. Having recently bonded with an up and coming user of the Dark Ninja powers named Kiya Watanabe, fate put Lothor on Xelleb's private garden planet where they rekindled a sense of brotherhood, due to being from the same universe and having grown to have the same ambitions. Lothor was brought into the fold of Xelleb and Mavro's Armada in secret, running a company whose hidden agenda was to amass enough money from the universe by controlling power supplies for the sole purpose of investing the money into shell companies to be siphoned into the Armada. On the side Lothor also gained money for the Armada with his aptly named "Evil Alien School", which promised for its outlandish tuition rates the best in education for all promising leaders of evil galactic empires.

Being the business mastermind that he was, he quickly won the trust (and wallets) of the evil warlord community. Even Dark Specter himself suspected no foul moves from Lothor, enrolling all of his children from Alphabet Soup into the school. Now Alphabet Soup is an organization whose true origin is unknown, but seems to also have roots in Lothor's old universe (the Nathadian Universe). It was "prophesied" from millions of years ago that a leader who would tip the scales between good and evil would rise from Alphabet Soup. The details of Alphabet Soup were revealed to Bansheera from a book known as the Xenotome to be (simply) an organization filled with kidnapped children who were raised by a great evil for the sole purpose of leading said forces of evil to victory.

After some students had gone through the school, Lothor had been able to piece together bits and pieces of Alphabet Soup's purpose until he had patched the mosaic of information into a complete tapestry of the story. In other words, Lothor learned what Alphabet Soup was and what the prophesy surrounding it was. That revelation was what brought Lothor to Xelleb and Mavro that morning.

Bowing before the four thrones, Lothor smiled in his Ninja garb. "Emperor Mavro! Empress Xelleb! Princes Vekar and Vrak! I have vital information for your everyday life!"

"Speak, worm," Mavro said, irritated.

"I know what the secret of Dark Specter's Alphabet Soup is!" Lothor declared. "They have ancient prophecy saying that-"

"Yeah, yeah we know!" Vekar interrupted. "Whoever is a part of Alphabet Soup and there will be a leader and then other things with children and kidnapping. We get it! Just... stop wasting our time!"

Vrak stood from his throne and nodded. "I have to agree with Vekar, Lothor. You yourself said of all people you were the first to know of Alphabet Soup to begin with. You've already given us what we needed to know about it. That's why we created our own Alphabet Soup and both my brother and I are a part of it. Thus when our family conquers the universe, that prophecy will be complete."

"Ah, but I learned something _else_!" Lothor revealed. "Deviot did some research and found evidence that the leader who is to come from Alphabet Soup needs to have a strong connection to the Morphing Grid-"

"Been there," Vekar interrupted.

"-an Animal Spirit matching their own species-" Lothor continued.

Vekar swallowed hard, knowing he did not have such an Animal Spirit. Vrak, though, did and bragged about it.

"Ha! I told you all birth order had nothing to do with who should lead the Armada!" Vrak said triumphantly.

"-and an _equal_ connection to each portion of the Emotional Spectrum," Lothor concluded.

"Ha, yourself!" Vekar said, jumping up and clapping from his throne. "You think you're all high and mighty, but... _ha_!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Vrak spat. "That means that _neither_ of us are the chosen one from Alphabet Soup."

"True..." Mavro said, suddenly disinterested in both of his sons. "Tell me, Lothor... does Dark Specter have such a child in his organization?"

"It would seem so, but he does not let her out. She is the one doing online courses from my charter school, Mavro," Lothor said. "She's actually making us a lot of money, since I charge _a lot_ for our online classes."

Xelleb furrowed her brow. "What does this child call herself?"

"Astronema," Lothor said. "I did some investigating and it seems as if she is being raised by Ecliptor..."

Lothor gave Xelleb a knowing look. Only the two of them within the Armada knew who Ecliptor really was: a Cyborg created by Deviot of the Nathadian formerly known as David, a great king from the planet Xelleb and Lothor hailed from.

 _Interesting..._ Xelleb thought. _Though we have all taken new forms and powers, fate seems to be putting us all back together. Perhaps the powers trying to create equilibrium in this universe somehow can_ _sense_ _how us Nathadians have upset this universe and its natural course. Perhaps... perhaps we are all on a collision course one with the other to wipe each other out? Hmm... But no. I have worked too hard to get to this point. If there is but one Nathadian who will yet stand after all is said and done, it will be me!_

"He is a rather tough opponent," Mavro stated. "He gave Damaras a run for his money before Dark Specter caught him and sent him to the Oblivion... I suppose an assassination is out of the question..."

"But maybe that won't be necessary!" Lothor said. "What if we find our _own_ potential person, fitting those exact same specifications!?"

"Then we'll have a fifty fifty shot of being the ones the prophecy spoke of!" Vrak announed. "Brilliant!"

"Wait, wait!" Vekar said, seemingly coming to an epiphany. "What if... what if _we_ found a potential person fitting those specifications!? Then we'd have a fifty fifty shot at universal conquest!"

As Vrak groaned in irritation at Vekar, Xelleb condescendingly said to Vekar: "Good job, my dear. You are quite _bright_."

"I _am_ , aren't I?" Vekar proclaimed proudly.

"Now, how do we do such a thing?" Mavro demanded.

"By finding a child and bringing him into our fold." Lothor said.

"But _how_?" Mavro said.

Lothor smiled. "Why, I have already done that! You see, I pinpointed a child on Earth who has these qualifications!"

Mavro sneered. "Earth is on the other side of the universe, deep in the clutches of Dark Specter. Pick another place!"

"Wait..." Xelleb said, standing up. "I... I actually may have a way to do this. A way that we could even raise the child from afar. You say Ecliptor is raising this 'Astronema'. What if we have another raise this child for _us_?"

"But who would do this!?" Mavro asked, confused.

Xelleb smiled. "I have a... _connection_ on Earth. I will use it. Leave it to me, my love. All shall work for our good soon enough! Lothor? Thank you for your continued contributions. Dismissed."

"Of course, my lady." Lothor said, bowing and turning around to walk away.

 _It's my_ _pleasure_ _._ Lothor thought. _You all set up the pieces for me, and then when you least expect it?_ _Pow_ _! Lothor's coming in and taking everything for himself! Ah-hahah!_

 _. . ._

"Power of Black Energy, fill me!" Xelleb cried out in her private chambers.

Xelleb watched as Grey Energy flowed out of her. Then, a large portion of _Black_ Energy was ripped from her Grey powers and sent shooting to Earth. Concentrating, Xelleb sent the Black Energy (with traces of Grey Energy in it) to Earth, straight to the tomb housing Queen Bansheera.

As it entered the tomb, Xelleb's essence could feel great power coming from Bansheera. Suddenly, Xelleb's essence could feel something _tugging_ at it.

Who [i]are[/o] you!?Bansheera demanded.

A scourned woman looking for revenge! Xelleb roared, shooting herself at the Demon Cloud in the tomb which belonged to Bansheera.

A howl of pain came from Bansheera. She then _felt_ the essence and gasped.

Belle!? But... how!? I _destroyed_ you! Bansheera cried out.

A fool like you cannot even _comprehend_ what I have become! Xelleb's essence screached.

No matter! You have created an opening for me! Yah! Bansheera screamed. Focusing everything she had, Bansheera tore away from Xelleb and forced her way out of the tomb.

Xelleb, in her Armada ship, began to sweat. None of what had just happened was going according to her plans. Focusing, she could "see" Bansheera reforming herself in the tomb chamber buried under the sand.

 _I have to do something!_ Xelleb cried out in her own mind. That's when it hit her: she could use the same Magic Dark Specter had used against Damaras on Bansheera.

"Portal to the Oblivion! Open the the Vortex of Eternal Doom and Sorrow!" Xelleb screamed in her chambers, feeling exhausted as she tried to channel the spell to be sent from her to the other side of the universe.

The spell flowed from her and began to travel the energy trail connecting Xelleb to her essence on Earth. Through the cosmos it traveled, moving at speeds incomprehensible by the Human mind. Within moments, just as Bansheera was reforming, it landed under the Queen Demon and sucked her in, sending her to the alternate universe which was home to Monsters of all kinds. It was sending Bansheera to the Oblivion.

"You'll pay for this Belle!" Bansheera said, morphing from her Regina form to her Demon guise. "I will be back!"

As that occurred, Diabolico (Bansheera's right hand Demon) was able to also force himself out of the box prison. "My Queen! No!"

Seeing an opportunity present itself, Xelleb focused and caused an image of herself to appear before Diabolico. She noted that he was in Spirit Form, probably due to the exertion of trying to follow Bansheera's feat of escape. Seeing as he wasn't as powerful, he was unable to regain physical form.

"You there! Vermin!" Xelleb yelled.

"How _dare_ you!?" Diabolico spat. "You attack my queen then insult me? I will rip your throat out, Human!"

"I am no _Human_!" Xelleb screamed at Diabolico. "I am the ultimate force that just wiped your queen out of this universe! If you want any chance of ever finding her again, you will do _exactly_ as I say, understood!?"

"Why should I trust you!?" Diabolico demanded.

"You shouldn't, but I'm your only choice!" Xelleb said, laughing. "You either listen to me and Hope I give you your precious Queen back, or you suffer her fate and lose all Hope!"

Diabolico sighed, a glimmer of Blue Energy shining within him. "What must I do?"

"Follow my essence trail..." Xelleb said. "Then do one of your Demon Deals to the man you will see. Take his son from him and raise him up to be a grand warrior. You are being brought into my fold, under a program called Alphabet Soup. You will teach the child how to fight, and give him the powers that he will need to be the universe's mightiest champion!"

"A Human!?" Diabolico shouted. "May as well teach a tree!"

"This Human is... special, Xelleb said, trying to convince herself as well. She had just realized she had done all this on Lothor's word, not even knowing whether or not he was right to begin with. Figuring it was too late to return, she decided she would follow through with her hastily laid out plans.

"Fine. And then my queen will return?" Diabolico asked.

"I will give you everything you will need to know to bring her back. Do not worry about that," Xelleb said. "No go! It is time..."

 _. . ._

Captain Bill Mitchell was driving home late at night from visiting his mother-in-law. His wife had stayed behind to help her with some arrangements for her father's funeral, while Bill was heading back home to report in for duty the following day, where the kids would be placed in a Day Care. He hated having to do it, but his wife needed to have a clear head while attending to the funeral for her father and he knew the kids would distract from that.

As he drove, he smiled as he looked through the rearview mirror to see his son, Ryan, playing with a toy he had been given by his mother-in-law. It was a firetruck, which was a good gift since Mitchell himself had been a former fireman before he enrolled in the military. Mitchell was serving directly under General McKnight, being picked as a capable man by McKnight able to help fulfill General of the Army Rex's desires for a "better world".

His family was his entire world. His wife, Cathy; daughter, Dana; son, Ryan. He joined the military to help create a world where they would be safe. Having been integrated into Rex's program made him feel as if he was actually do that very thing. Smiling to himself, he turned quickly to look at his beloved children with his very own eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, a Demon Cloud was floating over his car, traveling alongside Xelleb's essence.

"Now what?" Diabolico asked. "A Demon Deal is a hard thing to get a mere mortal to accept..."

Xelleb laughed. Watch...

Suddenly, a blast of power erupted from the essence and created the illusion of a truck coming from the other direction. Diabolico watched in awe as Captain Mitchell swerved to avoid hitting the imaginary vehicel, only to fly off the edge of the road.

"What good are they to me dead?" Diabolico asked.

The man in that vehicle is a fighter, Xelleb said simply. He would not let his children perish without a fight. I can _feel_ it. He leapt out of the car and is currently holding on for his Life, grabbing at some plant. Go now, Diabolico. Get the boy, and you get your queen back.

"As you wish..." Diabolico grumbled angrily from his Demon Cloud, swooping down to watch Captain Mitchell struggle to save his family.

"Dad! Please help me!" The little blonde boy named Ryan cried out.

Diabolico watched as Captain Mithcell pleaded with his son to hold on. The man had his daughter hanging off his shoulder and his son hanging onto his boot as he himself used every last ounce of strength to keep himself from falling and ending the three of them.

 _He truly loves them... Fool. Love is_ _weakness_ _!_ Diabolico thought. _That Love will give your son to me!_

"I'm slipping!" Ryan screamed.

"No, no Ryan! Just hold on buddy!" Mitchell cried out. He was shaking, losing strength and mental stamina. He was in a frenzy.

Ryan himself was in a panic. All he knew was that if he fell, he'd be done for. Pure fear and terror gripped the small child, causing him to cry out in fear. Only one thought kept him going:

 _Dad will safe me. He's a superman! I know it! I'll be safe! You got this, Dad!_

"Daddy! I'm scared!" Dana cried out.

Bill Mitchell's heart broke right then. Both of his kids were screaming for their salvation, and he realized then and there that he could not provide it. That he wasn't strong enough to save them.

"Help! Somebody please help!" He yelled with all his might.

 _That would be my cue..._ Diabolico thought. He swooped down then flew up, forming from the Demon Cloud into his Spirit Form.

" _I_ can help you," The Demon announced.

Bill's soul chilled as he saw Diabolico. He knew not who he was, but every fiber of his being was telling him to not have anything to do with the monster.

"Go away!" Mitchell yelled at Diabolico.

Continuing as if Bill said nothing, Diabolico said, "But if I save his Life, the boy belongs to _me_."

"Dad!" Ryan screamed, not seeing Diabolico due to the Demon only presenting himself to Bill.

"Never!" Bill screamed.

"The choice is yours..." Diabolico said, vanishing.

You fool! Cried Xelleb. You'll never see your queen again!

"Patience, hag!" Diabolico retorted. "It takes time..."

Bill kept on trying to encourage his beloved children. Ryan cried out once again, but the only thing Bill could think to say was for him to hold on. And that's when it happened: the stalwart Ryan indeed continued to hold on, with every ounce of strength the special little boy could muster. But that wasn't enough, for the shoe itself slipped off Bill's shoe.

"Ryaaa-hah-hah-aaaan!" Bill screamed as he saw his little boy, so young and innocent, begin to fall to his doom.

 _No, no, no..._ The distraught man thought. _This... this can't be happening! No! Why!? This isn't fair! I've done the best I can! I... I couldn't have planned for this! No! It can't end like this! He's just a boy! He's done nothing wrong!_

Meanwhile, as Ryan fell, he kept his eyes trained on his father. _He will still save me! I know it!_

Bill knew there was only one last thing he could do. "Save him!"

Diabolico chuckled. "I told you... I knew what I was doing..."

Flying in, the Demon mustered all the power he could to make himself slightly physical. He flew under the boy and scooped him out of the air and floated up to eye level with the loving, yet defeated, father. He laughed as he stared at him, revelling in the chance to torment the living once again after thousands of years in a tomb.

"Please..." Bill began. "I'll do _anything_. Just... give me back my son!"

"You will not see your son again until his _twentieth_ birthday," Diabolico was shocked to find himself saying. "He is _mine_ now."

"Nooooo!" Mitchell screamed as Diabolico vanished.

What was _that_!? Xelleb screamed.

"I had no control over what I said," Diabolico informed as Ryan lay in his arms, passed out. "At times, I cannot dictate the terms of a Demon Deal. I am not an Alpha, like Beelzebub. I do not possess his Heart."

Xelleb sighed, knowing he was referencing what made Beelzebub the Alpha Demon: The Evil. Well, then... I will not give to you the key to Bansheera until you train him up! You have twenty years... and I will be back from time to time to check on you.

"You can't!" Diabolico screamed.

Just be grateful I'm giving you another chance! If your queen is as mighty as you say, twenty years in the Oblivion should be _nothing_ for her. Now go, and know I will be checking in from time to time to see how he progresses... Xelleb said from her essence, vanishing to rejoin with herself up in space.

Diabolico sneered as he looked at Ryan. "Filthy Human... I wish I could crush you right here and now! But... but my queen needs my loyalty. Little Ryan... I am now your keeper. Soon, you will be the most powerful Human there ever was!"

 _. . ._

Captain Mitchell walked into the office of General McKnight, determination on his face. He was a man on a mission: to get his son back.

General McKnight's voice could be heard already speaking to someone else as Mitchell made his way past the door. "...and Kaplan says he has some good folk, but they're not quite what are needed to fulfill what you're wanting, Rex."

Mitchell stopped, stunned. Before him was not only General McKnight, but also GA Rex. Hardly anyone had ever met the GA himself, and mostly interacted solely with McKnight. It had actually become a bit of a joke among the lower ranking officers that Rex didn't even exist and was a figment of McKnight's imagination.

"Captain Mitchell." Rex said, standing up. "Good to see you. I am so very sorry to hear of your accident yesterday. It is good a truck driver was able to find you and rescue you and your daughter. The... um... search for your son is ongoing in the woods nearby."

"They won't find anything," Mitchell said simply. "I didn't tell you everything. You see... last night I was attacked by a Demon."

"Demon!?" McKnight yelled. He then slowly nodded. "You must be under a lot of stress, Bill. Please... take some leave and-"

"No. I know what I saw," Mitchell retorted.

Rex nodded. "Tell us."

Bill began to tell each excruciating detail of the event to his superiors. He told them about the research he had done after getting rescued late that night up till early in the morning, coming to the conclusion that the beast he had seen had in fact been a Demon. As he ended, GA Rex walked toward him.

"I have seen many an amazing thing in my day," He said. "I believe you."

"Sir?" McKnight asked, stunned.

"McKnight? Give Bill his own taskforce to research this phenomenon," Rex ordered. "And also have him work on the Global Strike Initiative. I think he'll be perfect as the team mentor."

McKnight furrowed his brow. "I thought that _I'd_ be the mentor to that Ranger team."

Mitchell's mind was buzzing. And as Rex spoke, Mitchell couldn't help but get an odd feeling from Rex. Everything that came out of his mouth sounded aggressive and... _wrong_. He couldn't quite put his finger on it...

 _It worked!?_ Bill wondered as Rex spoke on. _They'll give me the team I need!? And what rangers? Forest rangers?_

"No. I need you to focus on the bigger picture, not Global Strike," Rex ordered. "Mitchell? You'll be briefed soon. Dismissed."

"Sir, yes sir." Mitchell said, turning and walking out.

 _Soon, you Demon..._ Mitchell thought. _Soon I will have my son back, and I will destroy you in the process! Though I can't help shake the feeling that I made a second deal with the Devil in just as many days... must be nerves, I guess..._

As he left, Rex dismissed himself from the fuming McKnight. As he walked away, he smiled and mused to himself.

 _Interesting... Demons have returned? It must be connected to that energy spike I found coming from Mavro's Armada. Now what does Mavro want with Demons...?_ Rex thought. _It must be connected to Bansheera. The picture is getting more and more complicated... Obviously Mavro is trying to get in on the Alphabet Soup prophecy. I wish I'd the foresight to have seen Ryan Mitchell as a potential. No matter. Dark Specter has Astronema, Mavro has Ryan... and I have yet to find my gambit. Soon, though... soon I will have my child from Alphabet Soup and then we will see who will end up being the ruler of the universe!_


	18. 1987: The Great Mystic War Part One

**1987: The Great Mystic War Part One**

 _ **1987 AD - Magic Realm of Earth M54331Z-B**_

The Oracle gasped as he felt Koragg's blade dig deep into his gut. "You cur!"

Koragg laughed. "This is the end of your civilization, fool. The Master has commanded me to keep you alive long enough so that you can see your failure come to fruition. _Uthe zazare_!"

Oracle tried escaping, but felt that he could not. He realized Koragg was channeling all available Magic that he had from himself into his sword, creating a spell that bound the Oracle to the blade. Oracle was shocked at the sheer force coming from the spell, strong enough to stop even him, the most powerful sorcerer, from escaping.

Koragg laughed as they appeared at the top of the castle belonging to the Knights of the Magic Realm. From atop a tower, Koragg pointed with his free hand to the entire landscape before them. "Behold your kingdom, fool! Behold its final moments before the end! Master!? It is _time_!"

Out in the garden below, a young sorceress by the name of Udonna, married to the leader of the Knights of the Magic Realm (Leanbow), was practicing her Magic spells by creating fauna for the scenery surrounding the castle. As she did, she suddenly paused. Something felt _off_ to her. Something felt... _dark_.

Looking up, she could see dark clouds beginning to form above the castle in the sky. The clouds were moving far too quickly to be a natural occurrence. Even the small hairs on her neck were standing on end. She could feel that it was the act of Dark Magic.

Rushing to the castle, she yelled out, "There's something wrong!"

Daggeron, one of the highest ranking Knights met her at the drawbridge, nodding. "I know! We all feel it, too!"

Before Daggeron could get to Udonna, a massive orange Dragon flew around the castle and began shooting fireballs at it. A force field of Light Magic suddenly appeared, protecting the castle.

"That shield won't last long!" Daggeron shouted, rushing to Udonna and bringing her in. "You need to get to safety!"

"No! Not without Bowen!" Udonna cried out in fear. She was referring to her newborn child.

"I'll get him for you! Stay here!" Daggeron screamed over the roars of the Dragon outside. He turned and sprinted toward Udonna's chambers to grab the infant.

As that occurred, on the other side of the castle, Leanbow and the four other captains of the Knights stood and stared at the Dragon. Behind them were the rest of the Knights of the Magic Realm, armed and ready.

"What do we do!?" The Knight of Earth demanded.

Leanbow, the Knight of Fire, furrowed his brow. "We summon all of our power together to win this battle."

"But this is surely not the work of this Dragon!" The Knight of Lightning observed. "How could a Dragon be causing so much Dark Magic to fill the air!?"

"Correct, you fool!" Morticon screamed as he and Necrolai stepped forward from a Magic Seal from the Underworld. "And now you will feel the power of the Master! Attack!"

"We need to split up!" The Knight of the Wind yelled.

"Yes!" Leanbow agreed. "The five of us will take on the Dragon. I order the rest of you to take on those two servants of Octomus. If he thinks he will come back now after so many years and beat us, he will find that he is to be greatly disappointed!"

"Haha!" Necrolai laughed. "It's not just the two of us!"

The Knights stared in awe as Necrolai thrust her hand into the ground. It was surrounded by Black Magic that Octomus had endowed to her for that event. Suddenly, Zombies began to unearth themselves from the dirt and reach forward to destroy the enemies of the Underworld. As that occurred, Hidiacks also made their way onto the battlefield, pouring in from the Underworld as directed by the Master.

"Let us destroy the enemies of the Master!" Morticon screamed as he, too, leapt forward to take the lives of the valiant Knights.

"We mustn't let this distract us!" Leanbow shouted. "First the Dragon. Now!"

Meanwhile, back in the castle, Daggeron returned with Bowen. "Udonna... you must leave the castle with him immediately!"

"Things have progressed badly..." Udonna said. "I... I am not powerful enough yet to survive out there and also take care of Bowen. There are _Zombies_."

"Then I must go and help Leanbow. Stay here." Daggeron said, turning to teleport himself out of the castle.

"But what about us?" Udonna asked. "What if they come in? Surely I cannot hold back an attack on my own!"

"Worry not, sister. I am here to help." Udonna's sister, Niella, said as she rushed to them.

"Niella! What are you doing here!?" Daggeron asked, shocked.

Niella sighed. "I tried to stop the barrier between the Underworld and the surface world from being ruptured. My powers as the Gatekeeper were not enough, unfortunately. I came here as fast as I could. The Snow Prince went to fight for me at the site of of the rupture. I needed to make sure you and Bowen were okay, Udonna."

"Thank you, Niella. That means a lot to me," Udonna said.

"Now I must go. Be careful..." Daggeron said, turning into his Ancient Mystic Mode as he did. It was the highest form of Magic one could attain (outside the Order of Meledon), and he knew the power from it that he learned from Leanbow (his mentor) would be needed.

Teleporting out to the forest surrounding the castle, Ancient Daggeron saw the four Captain Knights fighting alongside Leanbow, who had morphed into his Ancient Mystic Mode himself.

 _A shame the others haven't attained their Ancient Mystic forms..._ Daggeron lamented as he leapt into battle, shooting powerful Magic from his hands at the Dragon. _They are surely regretting not taking their training seriously. As I am of them, as well..._

"All together now! Power of Fire!" Ancient Leanbow cried out.

"Power of the Sun!" Ancient Daggeron screamed.

"Power of Wind!"

"Power of Water!"

"Power of Earth!"

"Power of Lightning!"

The six sources of Magic hit each other, meeting between them and mixing into a single blast of power. It sailed from them and hit the Dragon. It disintegrated almost instantly.

Meanwhile, on the castle unseen by anyone else, Koragg laughed. "This is only the first step, Oracle. Here's what is next!"

"Agh!" Oracle screamed. He could feel his powers being siphoned from him and absorbed by Koragg, the mind controlled man/Demon who had once been a Morphing Master before he lost his Life to Octomus eons ago. Oracle then saw as Koragg opened up a portal out in the distance. In the portal Oracle could see the main plane of Earth.

"No! They are innocent! They are too weak to defend themselves. Please don't!" Oracle cried out.

"The Master wants the Greatest Treasure in the Universe, Oracle," Koragg explained. "It is somewhere out there. After we defeat your forces here, there will be nothing standing in his way. His Magic has grown too strong for the forces of Zordon to stop. Now watch as our army destroys yours. Watch as you _fail_."

"Look!" Leanbow said from below on the ground, demorphing due to the strain caused by Ancient Mystic Mode. "A portal to Earth!"

"What does this mean!?" The Water Knight demanded.

"It means that Octomus wants to attack them..." Daggeron said, furrowing his brow as he realized what the open portal meant.

"Correct!" Morticon yelled, jumping in and attacking Leanbow. "Now give me your son!"

"What!?" Leanbow gasped. "What do you want with my son!?"

"You don't know!?" Morticon laughed, swinging his sword and hitting it on Leanbow's blade. "He's the Light!"

"The Light...?" Daggeron asked. He clenched his fist and rushed forward, only to be stopped by Zombies.

"What do you mean!?" Leanbow cried out, kicking Morticon away.

Morticon continued laughing as he staggered back. "The Book of Prophecies tells of the Light being born of a mighty Wizard and a mighty Sorceress! The Master can _feel_ it! It is your son, Leanbow. Bowen is the Light!"

"So _you_ were the ones who stole the Book of Prophecies!?" Leanbow yelled, shooting Red Magic at Morticon.

Morticon was hit hard, sending him flying into the air. He landed in a heap, trying hard to pull himself back up. He was ready to destroy Leanbow, but only in his mind. His body was not yet ready for the massive hit he had received.

"We must regather our forces!" Leanbow cried out, his mind racing due to the revelation about his son.

Leanbow teleported those with him to the Mystic Dimension, a pocket dimension created for the Knights of the Magic Realm to be able to hide valuable artifacts from the forces of evil, should they ever try for them. It was a dimension suggested by Zordon and created by Daggeron.

"How is my wife and son?" Ancient Leanbow asked, worried, as they arrived in the white dimension.

"Here." Lightning Knight said as he waved his hand. An image appeared in the air, showing Niella shooting bolts of Magic at Hidiacks as they stormed the castle. She had transformed into her own Ancient Mystic Mode granted to her by the Oracle when she had become the Gatekeeper.

"Yah!" Leanbow cried out, morphing into his Ancient Mystic Mode again for a power boost. He then shot Magic out to teleport Gatekeeper Niella, Bowen, and Udonna to the Mystic Dimension.

"Leanbow!" Udonna gasped, clutching her special Snow Wand in one hand and Bowen in the other.

"Niella...? Daggeron?" Ancient Leanbow asked. "Come forth."

Stepping forward, Ancient Daggeron folded his arms across his chest. "What is is, Leanbow?"

"I will need your powers to help me. I have a plan..." Ancient Leanbow stated, forming the plan in his mind as he spoke. He was absolutely determined to ensure the safety of his family. "We must re-seal Octomus. I can feel the Gate in the Mountains breaking. The rupture of the Magic Membrane outside the Castle of Knights was just the tipping point..."

"But how!? That is too much energy for me to muster!" Gatekeeper Niella cried out.

"I know... But not if Octomus is pre-occupied," Ancient Leanbow said. "I will need you to open the Gate and then let me in. I will fight him, weaken him enough for you to do the re-sealing. I will then rush out before the Gate closes."

Ancient Daggeron swallowed hard, uneasy with the prospect of the plan. "Leanbow, there has to be another way. You know the Master is deceptive. There's no guarantee you'll come back alive!"

In his Ancient Mystic Mode, Leanbow considered what Daggeron said. He knew the Master to be powerful, but that only gave him more resolve. He couldn't let such a dark force take his child.

"I'm going," Ancient Leanbow said simply.

Ancient Daggeron stepped forward. "Don't forget, we're with you. Niella? Let us prepare your spell for this battle which awaits us..."

"Teacher... allow me to fight beside you!" Calindor, the secret agent of the United Alliance of Evil in the Magic Realm, said to his "friend". He was in his Ancient Mystic Mode, having recently entered the Mystic Dimension from the field of battle. Unbeknownst to those in the dimension, Dark Specter had ordered him to find Leanbow for one reason: to get Leanbow's son, Bowen.

"Calindor!" Ancient Leanbow said. "Of course! I will need anyone I can get to fight with me! And you've attained your Ancient Mystic Mode!"

"I knew you could do it!" Daggeron proclaimed. "This will be a great help indeed."

"Now... let us go. Daggeron? Niella? Join us when you can," Ancient Leanbow said as the rest of the crew teleported up to the surface.

Arriving, Ancient Leanbow turned to his crew. "There is too much Dark Magic blocking us to teleport closer to the Gate in the Mountains. We must fight our way there. This is our final stand everyone. Do not give up!"

"Udonna should return to the Mystic Dimension!" Wind Knight demanded.

"No. I need to know she's safe. We do not know if there are spies in our midst," Ancient Leanbow said. "She stays with me."

As he said that, Hidiacks and Zombies sprouted forth from the ground. They began to lunge forward to destroy the group of fighters.

"Looks like you were right, Leanbow," Lightning Knight said. "They're sending defenders to stop us."

"Fight with your lives! Yah!" Ancient Leanbow declared, leading the way forward to get to the Gate.

They fought with all their might. One in the group, though, had intentions that were vastly different than the others. It was Ancient Calindor. The entire fight, he wondered how he would get Udonna alone to destroy her and take Bowen from her to give to Dark Specter.

 _That child must be mine!_ Ancient Calindor thought. _After all of these years of toiling for Dark Specter in secret, now is my time to show my worth! I_ _must_ _have that child for Alphabet Soup!_

Suddenly, Daggeron and Niella appeared in the midst of the battleground. The group had been battling hard, and Daggeron and Niella had appeared when they were nearly at the Gate. Due to Ancient Leanbow being in their midst, Daggeron had been able to teleport directly to him, permeating past the Dark Magic barrier.

"She's ready," Daggeron said. "But she must stay out of Ancient Mystic Mode until she's at the Gate. I, myself, have exhausted my Ancient Mystic Mode just getting us here..."

"Thank you, my friend." Ancient Mystic Leanbow said, demorphing to look his friend in the eyes. "You are a true friend. Now let us go forward. It is time..."

"Wait!" Udonna cried out. "Of all the people, Leanbow... we know we can trust Daggeron!"

"And?" Leanbow asked.

"Daggeron? Take Bowen and run! In case..." Udonna said, voice trailing when it came for her to mention the potential of her fate involving death.

 _Meddling Witch!_ Calindor thought bitterly. _No! Give him to me!_

With determination on his face, Daggeron nodded. "I will do all I can to protect him. Until we meet again!"

"Goodbye, Bowen..." Udonna said as she watched the valiant Knight head out. "I will see you again, soon. I _must_..."

Leanbow then turned and pointed his sword toward the Gate, eyeing the final stretch of enemies appearing before them. "Charge!"

"Hmm... mighty weird day we're having today..." A certain citizen of the forest, a "troblin" by the name of Phineas said. "Weather seems to be dark and gloomy. Eighty percent chance of Dark Magic. Oh, well. Better to have Dark Magic than none at all, I suppose..."

Phineas was a rare breed of creature. His parents were of two different species, one being a troll, the other being a goblin. He had tried to intermingle with the trolls, but found that they hated his goblin half too much and would have nothing to do with him. He discovered the goblins had the same contempt for his troll half, and figured out after not too long that he was doomed to wander about as a nomad with no home. He had grown to have quite the optimistic (yet simple) view of life. It was the only thing he had, otherwise he would probably wither away from despair.

As he strolled about the forest, feeling the thick decay in the air from the Underworld, Phineas spotted something curious in the distance. As he made his way closer, he saw Daggeron sprinting down as rain began to fall.

"Hunh. You don't see that everyday," Phineas mused to himself in his grunty voice. "One of the strongest knights in the land, Daggeron, running through the forest. And with a baby! Hehe... Probably because of that big ol' fight happening at the castle. Oh, and is that Calindor behind him? Must be my lucky day. Hehe... Maybe I can grab a piece of bark and have them autograph it for me. Hunh... Since when did Calindor have Ancient Mystic Mode? Weird."

Suddenly, Phineas saw Ancient Calindor stop and point a hand at Daggeron. He shouted out some sort of Magic spell and shot Daggeron in the back. Daggeron fell to his knees in the mud as the rain began to pour more steadily, clutching Bowen in his arms.

"Calindor!? What are you doing!?" Daggeron demanded, turning in shock to see the madman running at him full speed.

"I'm serving my master!" Calindor screamed. "Dark Specter will have what Dark Specter wants!"

Daggeron frowned as he set Bowen to the side under a tree. He wanted to ensure the boy stayed out of not only the rain, but of the fight.

"Give me that child!" Ancient Calindor demanded.

"Never!" Daggeron cried out, still trying to process the fact one of his oldest friends was betraying him.

 _If that's the way you want it, Daggeron..._ Calindor thought. _I guess I will have to fight you to get the child. Dark Specter says the child has the potential of being stronger than even Astronema. The more potentials Dark Specter has for Alphabet Soup, the better!_

Daggeron gasped as a Dark Magic bolt hit him in the chest, sending him staggering back. He then noticed the difference in Calindor's Ancient Mystic Mode than it had before: the face was gnarled and hideous, touched by the Dark Magic Calindor had so willingly let into his life. Daggeron charged forward, hoping to do some damage to Dark Ancient Calindor, even though his own Ancient Mystic Mode was still depleted.

"Calindor, your face... What have you done!?" Daggeron demanded as Dark Ancient Calindor began driving him back.

"I've joined the winning team!" Ancient Calindor proclaimed. "Come with me, old friend. Together we will be gods in the United Alliance!"

"Never! Magical source: Mystic Force!" Daggeron cried out, morphing into Solaris Knight. His morph surrounded him with Morphing Energy exhaust and pushed the evil Mystic off of him.

Channeling Gold Morphing Energy into him, Solaris Knight shot a powerful blast at Ancient Mystic Calindor. Calindor channeled his own Dark Magic into his hand and shot it out to Solaris Knight, the two beams hitting and creating a massive explosion after a moment of struggling at the point of contact. The explosion shot up and into the sky, turning into a lightning bolt that came down and struck the tree next to them.

"Oh, wow..." Phineas said to himself. "Looks like Calindor's a bad guy. I didn't see _that_ coming..."

Solaris Knight stared in awe at his former friend. He was shocked at not only the fact that he had become so evil, but also at his power level. It was unbelievable how much stronger Calindor seemed to be than he had ever let on. He was certainly no match for Leanbow one on one, but he would definitely give him a run for his money. Solaris Knight knew he had to give it all he could.

"You won't beat me, Calindor," Solaris Knight declared. "Becasue I fight for good. There is no way you can defeat me, just because of that fact."

"You're a fool," Ancient Calindor declared. He then transformed himself into a ball of pure Dark Magic, ready to rush at Solaris Knight.

 _Whoa, that's possible!?_ Solaris Knight thought in a frenzy. _Well... let's see if I can do that, too!_

Focusing, Solaris Knight channeled all of the solar energy, Morphing Energy, and Magic in his morpher into himself and concentrated. Right when Calindor shot up and into the air, Solaris Knight himself as well became a ball of energy. With all he had, he shot up into the air after Calindor.

Phineas watched in fascination and fear as the two Knights battled in the sky. Continuously they rammed into each other, trying to destroy the other. Neither of them would give up, and had victory on the mind. Daggeron wanted victory for the Magic Realm, while Calindor wished to claim victory for Dark Specter.

"C'mon, Daggeron..." Whispered Phineas. "You can do it..."

As they fought, Solaris Knight heard something with him in the ball of energy. It was his trusted sidekick, Jenji.

"Hey! Daggeron! This is your chance!" Jenji cried out, having been able to stay silent no more. "Use your wish!"

"What!?" Solaris Knight cried out, being slammed by Calindor.

"You never made a wish! I think I'm ready to grant one! I _know_ I can do it!" Jenji cried out.

Solaris Knight could feel himself weakening. Without full access to his Magic, he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat Dark Ancient Mystic Calindor.

"Okay!" Solaris Knight cried out. "I wish that Calindor was imprisoned!"

"No!" Dark Ancient Calindor proclaimed. "If I'm going down, then so are you!"

"Oh, no!" Jenji cried out as Dark Ancient Calindor began to try and mix their energies together. "I... I'm having a hard time pinpointing the spell on him, Daggeron!"

"Just do it! _Now_!" Solaris Knight screamed.

"I hope this works!" Jenji said, crossing his fingers from within his lamp. He then cast the wish.

Before anyone could react, the three bodies were thrust into a cave below them. The wish, unfortunately, affected all of those involved. Due to Jenji's inexperience (it being his first wish granted), the curse from the wish affected each of them differently: Calindor was turned into a mummy, curled and gnarled. Daggeron was, for whatever reason, turned into a frog. Jenji was simply trapped in his lamp. As they all landed within the cave, the wish created a Magic Barrier around the cave to prevent anyone from getting in or out. They were truly imprisoned.

"No! No! Daggeron!" Jenji screamed. "Nooooo!"

Meanwhile, Frog Daggeron leapt over to the lamp. He rubbed it several times, but it was useless: the Magic prevented him from summoning Jenji. He then leapt over and stared at the mummified remains of Calindor.

 _I may have sacrificed myself, but it was worth it..._ Frog Daggeron thought. _At least the world is safe from traitors like you..._

Meanwhile, outside, Phineas made his way to the crying baby. "Oh... oh no. Shh... don't cry little guy. Um... I know! I'll take you to the Castle of Knights! Oh, wait... no, that's no good. There's a big war going on over there. Um... I know! I'll take him somewhere where there's no fighting at all! I'll take him to the Human world! Yeah... I mean, there's that tear in the forest that leads to that Human city known as Briarwood. I've only been there a couple of times to look at the fancy metal Dragons people ride around in, but... Shhh! Okay, okay! Don't ya' worry one bit! Uncle Phineas is gonna have you somewhere safe in no time!"

And like that, Phineas picked up Bowen. Cradling him deep into his arms as he was covered in his red blanket, Phineas began to sprint as fast as he could through the forest to the rip between realities. He was doing all he could to save Bowen's life. To save... the Light.


	19. 1987: The Great Mystic War Part Two

**1987: The Great Mystic War Part Two**

 _ **1987 AD - Magic Realm of Earth M54331Z-B**_

The battle raged on. Leanbow did all he could to keep the flowing numbers of Zombies and Hidiacks down, but the more he fought, the more they flooded in.

"Ah!" Lightning Knight yelled, being hit by a spell of Magic from Necrolai.

Niella gasped, watching from afar with Udonna. She hoped and prayed for him to stand back up. She was disappointed. He did not get up, nor would he ever get up again. He had given up the ghost.

"No..." Udonna whispered. She was shocked to see one of the most powerful Knights in the land be destroyed.

"Keep fighting!" Yelled Leanbow. "Never give up!"

"I got this!" Replied the Earth Knight. He pointed his trusty wand at a group of Zombies and fired.

As he did Morticon laughed, entering the new battlefield for the first time. He charged his weapon, the Fang of the Master, and unleashed a massive attack at Earth Knight. The hero hadn't a chance to guard himself: the blast blindsided him and thrust him against a broken piece of stone that had fallen from the Gate in the Mountains itself. The attack was stronger than Earth Knight could have taken, unguarded. He fell there, his Spirit leaving his body once and for all.

"No!" Wind Wizard cried out. He rushed at Morticon to attack him from behind.

"Fool!" Morticon yelled. He pointed his sword at the impulsive Knight and took his Life as well, firing a massive bolt of Black Energy at him.

"I can't believe it!" Udonna gasped. "How is Morticon gaining so much power!?"

. . .

Still atop the tower of the Castle of Knights, Koragg had his blade deep in the belly of the Oracle. He was siphoning as much Magic from the powerful Sorcerer as he could, redistributing said power to both Necrolai and Morticon to help them be more powerful than ever. To watch what was occurring at the Gate in the Mountains, Koragg had opened up a small window in the sky, showing them the events as they unfolded.

"Please..." Oracle begged. "Just end my Life now. I wish not to see my friends continue to lose their lives!"

"Quiet!" Koragg demanded. "Your people will fall, you will watch, and you will know that it is _your_ power that made it so!"

"No..." Oracle gasped as he saw Water Wizard get blasted by Necrolai. There was only one Knight left of the group of Knight Captains: Leanbow.

. . .

Leanbow staggered back. He tried becoming an Ancient Mystic, but found his Magic stores were depleted. He was backed up against a tree as Necrolai and Morticon approached him, flanked on either side by the forces of the Undead.

"I must help him!" Udonna cried out, standing up and clutching her Snow Staff.

"No!" Niella cried out. "If they know we are here, then they will attack us. We must survive so that we can try and seal the Gate."

"But Leanbow-"

"Can take care of himself. Have faith, my sister!"

On the field of battle, Leanbow sighed and stepped forward. He pointed his wand at Morticon and growled. Without a single word, he rushed forward, shooting spell after spell at the Magically boosted Cyborg. Morticon did not even flinch as Leanbow got closer. Not until he was in range, at least. Morticon thrust his blade forward and stabbed Leanbow in the stomach.

"No!" Udonna gasped as Niella grabbed her, pulling her back.

"Ha!" Morticon proclaimed. "It's over!"

Blood slowly dripped out of Leanbow's mouth. His vision began to blur as his Lifeforce began to leak out of his body. He knew that he was dying.

. . .

 ** _Earth M54331Z-B_**

Phineas walked slowly through the woods, clutching baby Bowen tightly to his bosom. As he did, he noticed the baby had fallen asleep. He smiled slowly, patting Bowen on the head.

"There, there... Uncle Phineas has ya, ol' buddy. Don't you worry!"

"Excuse me?" A voice said.

Phineas jumped, spinning around. Before him stood some men he did not recognize, but Future: Omega Ranger from the Hall of Legends _did_. It was GA Rex, Dr. Harlen, and Dr. Levoy. Dr. Harlen was looking at a scanning device in his hand as they approached Bowen and Phineas.

"Who are you!?" Phineas demanded, clutching Bowen tighter than before.

"We have been observing this area for quite some time." Dr. Levoy offered, nodding to his colleagues to let them know he knew what he was doing. "Some strange signals come from here. Recently, we felt a great disturbance and we decided to look deeper into it."

"Oh, you must be referring to the Black Magic," Phineas said casually. "Yeah, there's a great battle going on over in my world. It's pretty bad. The forces of darkness are beating the Knights and are apparently opening a portal to come here and destroy, well... all of _you_. Hehe... yeah, bad day to be a good guy, you could say."

Rex furrowed his brow. "Are they close?"

"Um... maybe? I think Leanbow is fighting back. Who knows... I just grabbed this little baby to try and bring him here." Phineas said, showing them Bowen.

 _Good._ Rex thought. _If Leanbow is fighting back, there's still a chance this surprise attack from Octomus won't happen. My plans are not even_ _near_ _complete. I sincerely hope Octomus doesn't throw a wrench in my plans..._

Dr. Harlen nodded slowly, looking to Rex as he showed him the device in his hand. "The algorithm you gave me? For Alphabet Soup? It's off the scales for this boy."

Rex turned and looked at Phineas directly in the eyes. "Hello. My name is Rex."

"Hi. Phineas, a troblin extraordinaire!"

"You said that boy needs a home?" Rex said. "Somewhere safe? Well, can you see these medals on my lapel? They show that I am a great general here. I am in charge of protecting everyone!"

Phineas nodded. "Wow! Must be my lucky day. So you can take this adorable baby?"

"Of course." Rex said, smiling his sincerest smile.

"Here ya go then." Phineas said as he passed Bowen into Rex's arms. "Perfect. Oh, I don't even know your name. Um... Nick! Yeah. I'll call ya Nick. Goodbye, Nick. Oh, and Rex? Uh... if the Master ends up destroying Leanbow, I wish you good luck in defending your people. You're definitely gonna need it!"

As Phineas turned and headed back to the Magic Realm, Rex smiled and stared at the baby. "Dr. Levoy? I want you to contact Lieutenant Russell. He and his wife recently found out they're unable to have children. I think little 'Nick' here may be the answer to their problems. And mine, as well..."

 _This boy is perfect!_ Rex thought. _Dark Specter has Astroneman. Mavro has Ryan. Now I have Nick. But it's not enough... the more Potentials I have, the better the odds of me beating them! Yes... soon I will no longer be under the heel of Dark Specter. Soon, I will be king of the universe!_

. . .

 _ **Magic Realm of Earth M54331Z-B**_

Morticon laughed as he lifted up his sword, Leanbow still on it. He then flipped the sword up, causing the momentume to toss Leanbow off and to the ground.

"And thus the Master wins!" Morticon proclaimed.

"Not... yet..." Leanbow grunted. With the last of his strength, he muttered: "Final attack... Phoenix..."

As the words slipped out of his mouth, he expired. Then, suddenly, his wand began to glow brightly. From it Leanbow's Animal Spirit flew out, surrounded by Leanbow's powerful Red Magic. It rose up and returned Leanbow to Life, as well as his fellow Knights. They were gathered behind him, restored.

"What!? Impossible!" Morticon yelled, shooting another blast at them.

Their return was met with the blast, sending them flying up into the air and landing on their sides. Except for Leanbow. He stood tall and proud, unaffected by the blast due to his Red Magic being at the highest it had ever been. In fact, he was very close to reaching levels of Nathadian Magic, though he knew not that fact.

"Neramax fluidus maloria!" Leanbow shouted.

"Noooo!" Morticon yelled. Before he knew it, he and the armies around him were banished back to the Underwold.

 _Oh, no..._ Necrolai thought. _A pregnant woman should not have to live her life in the Underworld! What would Broodwing think if I took his child away from him!?_

Before she could fly away, though, she was caught with the rest of the Undead fighters and Morticon. Leanbow stared at them, knowing they were caught and being sent back to the Underworld to not return for a good amount of time. As long as he could seal the Gate, that was.

"This was pointless if we cannot seal the Gate, though." Leanbow said, Willing Niella and Udonna to him through his Magic. He focused and teleported them to his location.

"Oh!" Niella gasped, surprised by the power Leanbow was demonstrating.

"My love!" Udonna cried out, running to him.

"Udonna..." Leanbow said. "I want you by my side for this. Niella, let us journey forth."

"We'll come, too," Lightning Knight said.

"No. You must stay. You are weak," Leanbow said. "Rest. We'll return soon."

They journeyed forward in silence. Udonna clutched at Leanbow's arm, thoughts racing from the traumatic experience of watching the death of her husband (the shock slightly taken away by his revival), and worries of where Bowen may be. Niella continued to meditate within herself, knowing the task at hand was a great one. Leanbow himself kept his mind clear save for one thought: _Destroy the Master_.

Arriving at the Gate, strong Dark Magic flowed from it. The smell of Red and Black Energy was also in the air, causing the three Magic uses who were sensitive to the forces of the universe to need to control their gag reflex. Clenching his jaw, Leanbow stepped to the Gate.

"Open it, Niella," Leanbow said.

"Are you sure of this!?" Niella asked, extremely worried.

"More than ever. This is for the people of our realm," Leanbow said. He then turned to Niella and smiled. "I trust you."

She nodded and lifted her mighty staff in the air. A burst of Blue Magic erupted from it and hit the Gate. It began to open.

Continuing to smile, Leanbow turned to Udonna. "I love you, Udonna. I have and I always will."

"Return safely, my love," Udonna replied. "Bowen and I love you so much."

Leanbow stepped forward and into the Gate. As he did, he could hear something dark and sinister. It was the voice of the Master himself, laughing as he felt Leanbow's presence enter the coridoor between the Underworld and the Magic Realm. Leanbow then gasped. Standing before him were legions upon legions of Undead Warriors, lying in wait. In wait for _him_ to open the Gate. It was a trap. They had been waiting for Leanbow to open the Gate _for_ them to be able to escape easily. And Leanbow fell for it. He was outthought by Octomus, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stand and stop their flood from running past him.

As they began to rush at him, Leanbow knew what he had to do. He turned around and stretched forth his hand, looking at Niella and Udonna with fierce intensity.

"Stay back! Seal the Gates with a spell!" Leanbow screamed. He had already begun to send volts of Red Magic at the Gates to begin their closure.

Niella rushed forward, having seen the look of horror on Leanbow's face. "No!"

As the Gates finished closing, he turned his back to Niella and said, "It's the only way..."

"I... I can't do it!" Niella screamed. "He'll be trapped there!"

Udonna stood and stared at her sister. "No... you _must_."

"What!?"

"What did you tell me back there? To have faith?" Udonna asked. "We thought Leanbow was defeated, yet he found a way to return."

"The Phoenix attack is rare to work, though!" Niella protested. "And even if he got it to work again, how would he return!?"

Udonna smiled. "He is Leanbow. He'll find a way. Now, Niella... just like Leanbow said he trusts you, so do I. You are my flesh and blood. I know you can do this."

Niella nodded. She then turned and pointed her scepter at the Gate, Blue Magic erupting from it as the Magical headband she wore glowed as well, channeling her inner Spirit to mix with the Gate.

 _No!_ Niella thought in a panic. _It's saturated with the Master's Black Energy! The power of Death itself! It's blocking my Blue Magic! But... there's something I can do. I can counter it with the power of Life!_ _My own White Energy_ _! But... my daughter! Poor Clare... she'll be alone. No, wait... she won't! She'll have Udonna, and Bowen... and Leanbow. If I don't do this, then the forces of evil will engulf the land and my baby... I_ _must_ _do this!_

"Ahhh!" Niella cried out as she felt her very Lifeforce begin to be ripped from her body to counteract Octomus' Black Energy.

"Niella! What's wrong!?" Udonna gasped.

"Take care of Clare for me!" Niella screamed. As she did, the last of her White Energy fled from her body. As it did, she vanished entirely, being translated immediately to the Spirit plane.

Udonna stared in shock as she saw her sister vanish before her eyes as the Gate locked. She rushed over and bent over the robe, headdress, and staff which had been left behind.

"No... no!" Udonna screamed. "Niella!"

Then, the shaking began. Before Udonna could react, the Gate in the Mountains began to be pulled into the ground. She then noticed the entire mountain range itself begin to be sucked into the earth, to be trapped in the coridoor between realms along with Octomus.

"Niella... Leanbow!" Udonna cried out, tears filling her eyes. Before she was sucked into the ground herself, she closed her eyes and teleported herself back to where the four surviving Knights were.

"Udonna! Leanbow...? Niella?" Lightning Knight asked, shocked to see Udonna alone.

"Niella didn't make it," Udonna said simply, putting on a brave face for those around her. "Leanbow went into the Gate to fight. Apparently it needed to be closed or else the Master would escape."

"We must find another way to get to Octo-"

"Please... do not use that name around me..." Udonna said, trying to maintain composure. "It only serves to remind me of the sacrifices made today. Now, let us head back to the Castle. I need to find my son, and I need to speak with my niece. There is a lot we must do, and not a lot of time left."

As the Knights nodded and began to limp away, unable to teleport due to their Magic still being depleted, Udonna noticed something glowing. She walked over and found the yellow Lightning Wand. She walked around and collected each one in her arms. Then, she was surprised to find the fifth one: Leanbow's.

 _Curious..._ Udonna thought. _I wonder why Leanbow left this here. You know what? Perhaps he did it as inspiration to himself... Yeah, that's it. He never goes anywhere without it. He knew he'd be back for it! Yes! Well, Leanbow... I'm going to hold onto it for you! Yes... and when you return, I'll give it back and we'll laugh and cry together! You'll tell me how it was to slay Octomus and... and then we will all be a family again. But... until you return, I will guard it with all my soul._

. . .

Oracle laughed. "Ha! You have failed, Koragg!"

Koragg shook his head. "Not yet... There is no possible way for Leanbow to be able to defeat the Master and the enormous army awaiting him!"

Oracle looked up as the scene in the window changed to show Leanbow in the coridoor. He roared with power as he morphed into his Ancient Mystic Mode. Red Magic danced off of him with a level never before seen by either Koragg or the Oracle. Fire swam over his sword as he lifted it up. From the flaming sword, a vortex of fire flew out from it and like a massive tornado spiraled away from Ancient Leanbow, destroying the Undead before him with great ease.

"Impossible!" Koragg declared. "There's no way!"

"Good shall always triumph!" Oracle cried out.

"Fool!" Koragg yelled as he backhanded Oracle. "Now you shall see the true power of _the Master_!"

Oracle and Koragg both looked, each eager to show the other that their chosen champion was the better fighter. Incredibly, Ancient Leanbow had enough power in him to truly decimate all of the Undead forces before him. Brandishing his blade in one hand and a shield in the other, he marched forward.

"Leanbow!" Octomus cried out, turning off his invisibility field. "You dare defy me!?"

Ancient Leanbow was shocked at the sheer size of the Master. He was unbelievably big, but it did not deter the stalwart fighter. He just knew he'd have to try even _harder_ to topple the disgusting beast of evil before him.

"The same way you dared to defy me in my own home!" Leanbow countered. "I beat you there, and I will beat you here too!"

"Ahhh!" Octomus screamed, sending a blast of power at Ancient Leanbow.

"Agh!" Ancient Leanbow cried out, blocking the blast with his shield.

 _He's too strong!_ Ancient Leanbow thought realistically. _But I cannot give up! There must be something I can do!_

Focusing, Ancient Leanbow rolled to the side, letting the beam flow past him. He then stared at the one eyed octopus before him. The being made of pure evil and hatred. The being consumed by Greed. Ancient Leanbow pointed his sword at Octomus and began shooting as much Red Magic at Octomus as he could. As he did that, something _amazing_ happened.

 _Huh!? What is this power I feel!?_ Leanbow asked himself.

This is the ancient power used of our people. The Red Mage, Baelfire, said to Leanbow. Your faith in Magic is so strong we, the Tribunal of Magic, could no longer keep you from the highest point of Red Magic. This is Nathadian Magic, and it is now yours to wield! It will guide you and direct you in your battles. Now please... finish what we, the Tribunal of Magic, started millions of years ago. _Destroy_ Octomus!

Ancient Leanbow nodded, closing his eyes as Octomus swung his tentacles at him. Octomus was shocked as a force field of Nathadian Magic appeared around Ancient Leanbow, protecting him from the attacks.

"What is this!?" Koragg demanded angrily as he watched from the surface.

"It is the power of the ancients!" Oracle marveled. "Nathadian Magic!"

"No!" Koragg screamed.

Right then, Ancient Leanbow opened his eyes. "I know what I must do! I will cast a spell on this entire field of horror! Nathadian Containment Spell! Yah!"

"Nooooo!" Octomus screamed, feeling the spell wrap itself around him. He remembered when Mary, Will, and Baelfire had attempted to use the spell on him eons ago. The very spell that had trapped them in the Universal Magic Grid (though he didn't know that). "If I must be banished, then I'm taking you with me!"

"Not a chance!" Ancient Leanbow cried out. He began to focus Nathadian Magic into himself to teleport out back to his wife and child.

"No!" Octomus screamed, shooting a beam of Dark Magic out at Ancient Leanbow to pull him close long enough to cause the containment spell to affect him as well.

"Let me go!" Ancient Leanbow demanded. He was shocked at how powerful Octomus was, able to channel so much Dark Magic that it was impeding Ancient Leanbow from using even Nathadian Magic.

From the surface world, Koragg clenched his fist. "No... he's getting away!"

"Your master loses, Koragg!" Oracle cheered.

"No! Not yet! I still have _you,_ " Koragg proclaimed. He then focused and absorbed much more Magic than he could quite possibly yield without destroying himself.

"Ahhhh!" Oracle screamed.

"I'm coming, Master!" Koragg yelled, teleporting himself straight to Octomus.

"No... Leanbow..." Oracle gasped as he watched the scene in horror, drained and unable to move to help, even though he was no longer bound by Koragg.

Oracle watched as he saw Koragg turn into a Demon Cloud above Octomus. He then watched in horror as Koragg reinfused himself with Octomus, entering Octomus once again to be one with him, just as he had been after the Master had captured him millions of years prior, imprisoning Koragg in his eye to brainwash him. After all those years with his Spirit trapped inside Octomus' eye, Koragg had become a Demon and had his mind perverted to be completely obedient to Octomus. At that moment, Koragg couldn't stand seeing Octomus losing and sucked all he could out of the Oracle to give it his master. The power boost was enough: Leanbow was unable to escape.

"No! No!" Ancient Leanbow screamed. His mind instantly went to Udonna and Bowen. "Let me go!"

"You are now trapped with me here!" Octomus cried out. "And you are now _mine_!"

"I will destroy you!" Ancient Leanbow roared.

"I think not..." Octomus said as he blasted Ancient Leanbow with a good chunk of power from the Oracle. It weakened him greatly and disrupted his concentration enough to severe his connection to his Nathadian Magic.

"Ugh..." Ancient Leanbow uttered, fighting to stay conscious.

"Koragg!? You are a Demon!" Octomus screamed. "You know what to do..."

"With his power, I will be unstoppable!" Koragg declared as he flew down and entered into Ancient Leanbow.

"No..." Oracle gasped as he watched Leanbow's Ancient Mystic Mode melt away. Standing there, Leanbow morphed into the purple armor of the former Morphing Master. Leanbow had been possessed by Koragg.

"What is thy bidding, Master?" Koragg asked, kneeling before Octomus.

"Figure out a way to get yourself out of here. Leanbow's power should be enough for at least you," Octomus ordered. "Then round the troops. Fortify our forces again. I'm millions of years old, and I've learned to be patient. We prepare to strike again... And in doing so, I will find my freedom!"

"Yes, Master..." Koragg said as he began to meditate. He could not figure out how to access Nathadian Magic himself, but he knew the body he was in had at one point. All he needed was time to figure out how...

"What have I done...?" Oracle gasped, waving his hand to end the horrible vision. "I was too weak... if I had been more vigilant, I wouldn't have been caught offguard by Koragg. Then none of this would've happened. Had it not been for Leanbow, every Knight we had would've been destroyed... Niella is gone, and Clare now without a mother. Udonna and Bowen are now without a father, and the most powerful Wizard in the land is now a pawn of the Master. And it's all my fault..."

As he said these things outloud, he heard something. Looking down from the top of the tower, Oracle could see the four Captains of the Knights limping to the drawbridge. Walking behind them, still carrying the five wands, was Udonna. Guilt gripped him as he saw them approach.

"I... I am not fit to live with them!" Oracle gasped. "I'm a scoundrel! Vermin! I cannot stay here!"

Looking out, Oracle saw the portal Morticon had opened. It was still there, shimmering with a view of Earth.

 _There... I will go there._ Oracle thought. [I]At least there I won't be surrounded constantly with reminders of my failures... Please forgive me, my friends. I have ruined all of your lives. You... you're all better off without me...[/i]

And like that, Oracle focused and teleported himself with the little bit of strength he had left to Earth. For a moment he entertained the possibility of returning to save Leanbow, but he "knew" in his mind that he would be unable to fight the Master and Koragg/Leanbow. The coward then sighed and slowly made his way out of the woods to find a new life in Briarwood.

. . .

 _ **Earth M54331Z-B**_

"Thank you for the information, Udonna." Zordon said, looking at his Viewing Globe. "I am very sorry for your loss. Leanbow was a good man. And please do not give up Hope. I'm sure Daggeron, Jenji, Calindor, and Bowen will turn up. We must have faith."

Udonna pursed her lips at that comment. Faith had only gotten her so far, and she wasn't sure if she had any left. Her heart was in great pain.

Zordon noticed her countenance. He knew she was hurting. He remembered how he had felt when he had thought Trinity had been lost forever. It was a horrible feeling, and it was even worse when he learned how he had lost a son as well. Even though Zrin visited him at times (though not too long to draw the attention of the Watchers and Freelancers), Zordon could tell that Zrin did not truly see Zordon as his father, and although it was through treachery, Zordon-A had in fact raised Zrin, and in Zrin's mind Zordon-A was a father figure toward him. Zordon then thought about what he had done to keep his mind occupied, to not dwell on the negative (such as the question that had been plaguing him for the past few decades: Where was Trinity? Why hadn't she contacted Zordon of the Hall of Legends at least _once_ since she left to find a solution to the problem surrounding Dulcea?): he put himself to work.

"Udonna?" Zordon asked.

"Yes, Master Zordon?" Udonna asked.

"While we await Bowen's return, I wonder if you are able to help me with something," Zordon said, posing the opportunity to Udonna.

Udonna stopped and considered for a moment. "Why... I think Daggeron will be thrilled when he returns to hear that I got a chance to work with you. You're a hero to him, you know."

Zordon smiled. "Very well, then. Udonna, do you have access to objects I can use as conduits to the Magic Grid?"

Udonna quickly thought to the five wands that she had recovered, being stored in the Castle of Knights. "Yes, I do. Why?"

"I have a hypothesis, due to Daggeron's magnificent work with his Solar Cell Morpher, that I can fully fuse the Magic Grid in a power regulator with the Morphing Grid," Zordon said. "In other words, I believe I can create Power Rangers based on the Magic Grid... in concept. I would need to have people see if the work on paper can become a reality. Are you Willing to help me with this?"

"Yes I am, Master Zordon," Udonna said.

"Good. I want your realm to be prepared should another threat like Oct... the Master rears its head again," Zordon said.

"Just tell me what to do," Udonna replied.

"Very well, then," Zordon said. "I will send you information about this soon. Udonna? You will be the head of Project Mystic Force."


	20. 1988: The Search for the Tiki

**1988: The Search for the Tiki**

 _ **1988 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Future: Omega Ranger saw the screen open up to the designated date of 1988, and was shocked at what he saw: the Freelancer Agent S standing in front of General McKnight's desk. It was different, though: Agent S was not in the normal suit and tie Freelancers working for the Traveler normally wore (for Agent S had only ever been seen up to that point with Agent Chen, the man who seemed to be the head Freelancer for the Traveler). He had also shaved his face, which made him look a little different, but Future: Omega Ranger was not mistaken: the man before him on the screen he was watching was definitely Agent S.

"So, do you understand what this mission means, Steve?" McKnight asked.

Agent S, or Steve as he was going by, nodded. "Yes, I understand. Take the researchers to Mysterio Island to find the First Avenger, Auric the Conquerer."

"It's a treacherous journey," McKnight continued. "I know you read the file detailing it, but I cannot emphasize enough how utterly dangerous it is. Spider UK and Black Panther made sure to doubly fortify the defenses around that island to protect Auric."

"It's a shame we can't court marshall them to tell us how to turn it off," Steve sneered.

"We were lucky to get as much information as we did from them..." McKnight said. "Braddock, the former Spider UK, became a prominent political figure in the UK before he passed away. And I couldn't touch the King of Wakanda even if I tried. Not without creating a war, anyway."

"Well, you can trust me," Steve said. "You know I'm the best pilot around."

"I hope so. Otherwise I'm sending you to your grave," McKnight stated.

As they continued to speak, Future: Omega Ranger furrowed his brow behind his visor. _Maybe I'm wrong... Maybe this_ _isn't_ _Agent S. Perhaps it's Agent S' Temporal Twin..._

Wanting to check, Future: Omega Ranger tapped not only into his Third Eye Ability, but also everything the Time Force Cameras could find out about Steve from their cerebral scans. Suddenly, Future: Omega Ranger's mind was buzzing with information due to the Third Eye, while the Time Force Cameras reported an anomaly blocking any thought reading of Steve's mind.

 _Ahhh!_ Omega Ranger screamed in his mind as he slipped off the chair of his Chrono Workstation.

. . .

 _ **2050 AD - The Hall of Legends**_

"Sam!?" Sophie screamed from her SPD ship floating in orbit around Earth in the year 2050 AD. "Are you okay!?"

Future: Omega Ranger began convulsing. He wanted to reply, but found that he couldn't. His mind was too preoccupied with what it was receiving from Steve to respond to any other bodily function, save the necessities of sustaining Life.

In a room that seemed to be nothing but white Sam found himself demorphed, not really standing on any flooring. It felt to him like he was _floating_ , though he couldn't quite figure out if he actually was floating or not. It was an odd feeling. But that was the furthest thing from Sam's mind, even with the fact that he was no longer in the Hall of Legends (or was he?), was the fact that a mere ten feet in front of him was a man, sitting/floating crosslegged. It was _the Traveler._

Sam was taking the whole scene in, focusing on the Traveler. He was a man with what appeared to be long dreadlocks. They covered his face ( _Conveniently_ , thought Sam), stopping any full characteristics of his face to allowed to be seen by Sam. What Sam did notice, though, was the amount of _tech_ covering the Traveler's body. Sam could feel vast amounts of Time Magic coming from the equipment which seemed hardwired into the Traveler's body.

"You are in the present... Well, whatever you term the present..." The Traveler said slowly and quietly.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"None of your concern..." Traveler stated. "You tried to peer into the mind of one of my Freelancers. I could not allow that, young Sam. Now, if you try that again I will fry your brain. This is your warning..."

"Are you behind what's happening to my friends!?" Sam found himself screaming. His need for answers had gotten the better of him. "Did you send that... that _other me_!?"

Traveler smiled. "You sure are disturbed by this. No, Sam. I am not involved with that... not yet, at least. And you are mistaken: just because someone from another universe uses your powers, does not make them your Temporal Twin."

"Who is it!?" Sam demanded.

Traveler sighed. "Leave. I sense that if I tell you anything else that it may negatively affect my plans. As it is right now, everything is falling into place. Until we meet again, Sam. And just to plant the seed that will sprout within you, to create the Fear I need you to have of me, here is a sample of my power..."

Sam stared wide eyed as several blue colored tendrils, created of Time Magic, erupted from the Traveler. They shot forward and wrapped themselves around Sam.

"Ahhh!" Sam yelled. He could feel their pure power burning his skin, wanting to burn through him. "Let me go!"

Sam could then see Traveler's eyes through his long hair. They turned blue as a sound erupted from the Traveler. It was a sound Sam could only describe as being akin to listening to sixteen channels at once on the television. It was mind numbing.

"Ahhh!" Omega Ranger screamed as he suddenly regained control of his body.

"Sam!?" Sophie screamed. "What happened!?"

"I... I saw the Traveler..." Future: Omega Ranger said quietly. "It was horrific. He has so much power. He's unlike anything I've ever seen before. The only other time I felt anything _near_ that powerful was when I was with Jason fighting Lord Zedd when he was trying to get the Time Crystals... When Zedd was sucked into the Nothingness, the pure power of Time Magic could be felt from that rip in the fabric of Space and Time. The Traveler? It was like he could _harness_ that power and amplify it, concentrating it into constructs that felt as if they could rip me apart..."

"Sam... You never left," Sophie said. "It must've been a dream or something."

"No. That was no dream," Future: Omega Ranger said. "It was a vision. A prophecy of the Traveler. He wants total power... and I think that unless I finish these infernal files that no one can stop him. Sophie... he said that he's not involved with what's happening on Earth... _yet_."

"What is he waiting for?" Sophie asked.

Shaking his head, Future: Omega Ranger climbed to his feet and sat back down at his Chrono Workstation. "I don't know... but if I don't finish these files, I'll never get out of here to find out."

"I'm still working on it, Sam," Sophie stated. "I will get you out of there."

"Until then, Sophie..." Omega said. "Until then, I need to keep working. Or else the Traveler... or The Supreme... or whoever is impersonating me out there... any other psychopath may swoop in and destroy all of existence. I will _not_ just let that happen. I will finish this work, and I will do all I can to save the multiverse."

. . .

 _ **1988 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

"This is so exciting..." Susan Sloan said as she slipped her backpack into the plane.

Her husband, Donald Sloan, nodded. He wore a smile from ear to ear as he began to put things in the cargo port of the plane, as well. "I can't believe out of all the anthropologists that we were the ones picked for this grant. Imagine, Honey... 'Sloan team rescues the lost tiki of Auric, the missing Avenger!' Won't it be great!?"

"I know you can do it, Mom and Dad!" The little girl in her yellow flower dress, Tanya, said.

Donald turned and picked her up, laughing as he did. "Thanks for the vote of confidence! Now, what do you think you're doing so close to the plane?"

Susan smiled. "I asked her to come. Our pilot said we were leaving immediately and wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye to her."

"Ah. Okay, Tanya. You be good to Ashalla, hear me?" Donald asked as he set Tanya down.

Tanya groaned. "But, Daaad... I don't even know her. Why do I have to stay with her?"

"Because she is the SHIELD contact for this area, okay?" Susan replied. "Now you be nice to her, okay? She's doing all she can to help the people of this area. The animals in this country are still suffering from the plague Hydra unleashed on them years ago. She doesn't need you causing problems!"

"Okay..." Tanya said, looking at the ground and kicking at a crack in the concrete.

"Alright." Steve said, walking toward the trio. "You ready?"

"You bet!" Donald said happily. He then turned and planted a big, wet kiss on Tanya's forehead. "I love you so much, Darling. We'll be back soon, you hear?"

"Okay, okay!" Tanya said, laughing as she pushed him away and tried to rub the slobber off her face.

"Love ya, Sweetie." Susan said, hugging her daughter tight. "We'll be right back!"

Tanya took a step back as she watched Steve, Susan, and Donald pile into the plane. She was ushered by some security away from the plane. As she stepped back, she felt something in her, like a stab of worry. She had a very bad feeling for some reason about the trip. She fought back the urge to yell at them to stay as the plane took off. As she did, she felt Ashalla behind her suddenly.

"Now let's go, Tanya..." Ashalla said. "We've a lot of work to do. I'm going to get you started on a nice little program the government is going to ask your parents to have you join."

"Oh, yeah?" Tanya asked, surprised.

"Oh, yes. I'm going to give you a little sample of it once we get back to my house," Ashalla said. "I think you'll love it. It'll help you... find your true potential."

"Sounds great! Is it like Hooked on Phonics? My parents started me on that last month," Tanya asked.

Ashalla smiled. "It's called Alphabet Soup."

"Like the food!?" Tanya asked, giggling.

"Just like it," Ashalla stated. "Now let's go. We have some fun stuff to do!"

. . .

 _ **Three Hours Later...**_

Steve floated in the water amidst the wreckage of this plane. He held on to what was once a door, though it was just for show. If he truly wanted to, he could simply open a Time Vortex and go to any part of any of the mapped out universes of his people. He simply floated in the wreckage as an act.

"Is it done?" Agent Chen asked suddenly, appearing before Steve. He seemed to stand in the air, but it looked more like he was standing on an invisible platform. Future: Omega Ranger wasn't quite sure which it was.

"Yes," Steve answered simply. "I caused the plane to hit the peak of a mountain on Mysterio Island. The back half of the plane with all the supplies crashed onto the island, while my part of the plane was flung into the water. I've been floating for a couple of hours now. After another couple of hours I will unblock the beacon McKnight put on me so they can pick me up. Their primitive devices will not be able to get past Black Panther's force field, and Mysterio Island will continue to be hidden to them."

Chen nodded. "This is great news. The Traveler will be pleased with your efforts. Now that has occurred, the Sloans will be stuck on that island for many years."

"May I ask why?" Steve asked.

Chen smiled. "I guess you've deserved it. You see, Agent S, the Traveler believes that once Tanya becomes a full fledged member of Alphabet Soup that she will betray her captors. He has mapped out a very probable series of events that will end with Tanya using the powers she will develop in Alphabet Soup to return to Mysterio Island to find her parents. Once she gets on Mysterio Island, she will not only find her parents but also the lost tiki of Auric. From there, Traveler foresees Tanya using Auric as her puppet, launching a war against Earth's Alphabet Soup that will cause many, _many_ lives to be lost..."

"Ah, I see..." Steve said as the waves continued to crash around him. "Then Agent D can use the Spirits of those who will lose their lives and their energy for the Traveler. The Traveler is truly a visionary."

"Yes, he is..." Chen said, nodding. "And we are his tools. All hail the Traveler!"

"All hail the Traveler!" Steve echoed.

"Good luck with your assignment here, Agent S," Chen said. "I hope you will not be undercover for as long as Agent D has been with the Ethereals."

"Thank you," Steve said.

"Until we meet again." Chen said, turning around and walking into a Time Vortex.

As he left, Steve sighed. "Only a couple of hours left..."

. . .

"Susan... is it working?" Donald asked.

"No, the radio's broken." Susan replied, crying. "We have to find a way off this island!"

Donald nodded. "Well, we'll have to be careful. This place is full of booby traps, according to what Rex told us. We'll need to watch every step we take as we go out searching."

"Searching? For what!?" Susan demanded.

"For what we were sent here to get," Said Donald. "It has enough power to help us off this island. We need to find the lost tiki of Auric."


	21. 1989: The Dreamer

**1989: The Dreamer**

 _ **1989 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

"What's wrong, Wallace?" Leon, the Red Wild Zord asked.

The Eagle Wild Zord sighed. He looked at the expanse which was the Animarium. It was beautiful, but it was missing something. What it was... he knew not.

"I don't know, Leon..." Wallace replied. "I just feel..."

"Empty?" Leon asked, seeing Wallace couldn't find the necessary words to finish his thought.

"Yes... I believe that would be the word for it," Wallace said. "It's great that the five of us are here looking over the sleeping Princess Shayla, but after three thousand years... It gets a bit stale."

"Yeah, bro. I know what you mean..." Leon said, looking around. "You, me, Barry, Allison, and Chuck... After a while there're only so many conversations we can have. You know what you're feeling the lack of? Our Animal Crystals."

"You're right!" Wallace said, perking up. "Yes! What happened to them!?"

"They are supposed to be passed down to the ancestors of the Royal Guardians," Leon said. "So whoever is next in line from Brynja's family tree is whoever has your Animal Crystal. Should the time ever arise that we are needed again, Shayla will awaken and we will be paired with our new guardian."

"No!" Wallace said, sitting up and stretching out his wings. "I can't wait that long! I'm going to find out who it is _now_."

"How!?" Leon asked, laughing. "We can't abandon Princess Shayla!"

"Who said anything about abandoning her?" Wallace said, a sly tone to his voice. "I'm gonna link up to the Animal Crystal."

"You can't do that!" Leon demanded. "If you do, you'll be activating it. What if whoever has the Crystal right now isn't ready for that sort of link? Remember how long it took for Baskin, Brynja, Merrick, and the rest of them to get synched with their Crystals? That's irresponsible!"

"I'll just ping it, then!" Wallace said. "I... I just wanna feel it. One more time. That's not bad, right?"

Leon sighed. "Okay, fine. Ping it, okay? Just don't try to contact the owner of the Crystal. It could prove to be too much."

"I got it," Wallace said. He then closed his eyes and for the first time in almost three thousand years, he reached out to link up with his Animal Crystal.

. . .

"What do you _mean_ we're moving to Turtle Cove!?" Douglas Earhardt demanded.

"I... I don't know!" Michelle said, shrugging. "This morning I just got an intense feeling that I should look into jobs in Turtle Cove. The military base there said they had a position with a branch of the government under someone named McKnight and that I fit the bill perfectly to be a secretary there."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Douglas protested. "You aren't military!"

"I know, I know... but they're offering me two hundred thousand a year!" Michelle blurted out, unable to contain the surprise any longer.

Douglas stared at her, dumbfounded. It was 1989. One simply did not make that much money wihtout having something special to offer. But, he wasn't going to look a gifthorse in the mouth.

"When do we start packing?" Douglas asked, a smile spreading across his face.

"Tomorrow! They're even paying for our flight!" Michelle stated happily. "This is an answer to our prayers, Doug! We're set for life!"

"What's happening?" A little girl asked, walking into the room with a coloring book in her hand.

"Well, Taylor..." Michelle began. "We are going to be moving!"

"Why!?" Taylor asked, shocked. She had a lot of friends at her elementary school and didn't want to lose them.

"Because I got a nice new job!" Michelle stated.

"No! But my school!" Taylor protested. "All of my friends!"

"Actually, that's another thing..." Michelle said, looking at both Douglas and Taylor. "They said they have a special school on base just for you, Taylor. They said it is an accelerated learning program! It's called Alphabet Soup, and you will be there with some other kids, too! It will be great! You'll see!"

"But Moooom..." Taylor whined.

"Just you wait and see! Really! It'll be great!" Michelle said, beaming as she looked from Taylor to Douglas.

"Okay, fine." Taylor said, pouting. "But this Alphabet Soup thing better be worth it!"

. . .

General McKnight stood in the office of the man who was overseeing Turtle Cove. He was a stern man who had a reputation for being hard and unmoving, which General of the Army Rex thought was very important. The man in question was Colonel Mason Truman of the US Air Force.

"So you understand your assignment?" McKnight asked the man as he began to walk around the room, looking at the many awards and honors littered throughout the room recognizing Colonel Truman for his outstanding leadership and service.

"Yes," Truman answered. "I run things here and in return, GA Rex ensures I get the back up I need from the Army when I need it."

"We scratch your back as long as you scratch ours..." McKnight said. "I'm glad you were convinced by Rex's mission statement."

"He's a brilliant man," Truman replied. "And if he says these steps are what are needed to help prevent another invasion like Hydra or the League of Assassins back in the fifties, then I'm onboard. The only thing is this Alphabet Soup thing..."

"It's needed," McKnight answered simply. "Rex says this is the way to bring in and train tomorrow's future leaders. I've already seen miracles from this program. There is a baby we have who has showm amazing powers and-"

"Did you say _powers_?" Truman asked.

"Magic, Colonel Truman," McKnight replied.

"Hmph. That sort of thing makes me uneasy..." Truman said, shaking his head. "There won't be anything like that _here_ , will there?"

"Only if we're lucky." Mcknight stated, smiling. "This new family in particular... Earhardt? We found a powerful signal coming from their house in another state. Come to find out the energy source matched what Dr. Viktor Adler's team had hypothesized would be the energy signature belonging to the Animarium. Further prodding helped us find out the girl in the house had strong... _credentials_."

Truman nodded. "So the Animarium was calling out to her?"

"Probably," McKnight answered, knowing not it was actually Wallace who had been trying to not link specifically to Taylor, but to the Animal Crystal in her mother's box of family keepsakes.

"So she's one of the... what was it Rex called them? _Potentials_?" Truman asked.

"No, no." McKnight answered. "It seems that her Animal Spirit is the Eagle, and she is greatly connected to only the Red portion of the Emotional Spectrum, that of Rage. But although she is not a Potential, she is still a good fit for Alphabet Soup. That girl that came in yesterday, for instance. Moira? She's not a Potential, but she seems to have immense Psychic Energy coming from her."

Truman frowned at the mention of Moira. "I... I don't like her. There's something... _unsettling_ about her and that doll she's always carrying around. She calls it Susie Sunshine, but... That doll ain't no beam of sunshine, I'll tell you that."

McKnight smiled. "Well, she'll be a big help to Alphabet Soup. And Truman? My appreciation once again for hiring Michelle Earhardt. I know she wasn't your top choice, but when we found out she started calling different places here in Turtle Cove, and that one of the places was _here_... well, we were sure fate was smiling down upon us."

"It is rather odd she called right after you guys found out her daughter fit your parameters for Alphabet Soup..." Truman observed. Although he trusted GA Rex, there was still something bothering him about the whole situation. He just couldn't shake that feeling, even if the facts showed him Rex was a good man. It was a gut feeling he was trying to ignore, to be a good patriot.

"Not odd. Like I said: fate," McKnight said. "I'll be in again. Have a good day."

Truman sighed. "Yeah, you too."

Sitting down as McKnight left, Truman began the paperwork for Michelle Earhardt to begin working for him. What he didn't know about her was that it wasn't fate that had led her to Turtle Cove: She was the current rightful owner of the Eagle Animal Crystal. When Wallace had reached out to her Crystal, her mental link to it had driven her to get as close to the Animarium as she could (though she didn't know that was what was driving her). One thing led to another, and she had joined up with Rex's gang. She knew not that it wasn't for her, but for Taylor. She knew not what she was getting her family involved in...

. . .

In Taylor's pocket, as she sat in her seat on the plane, was the Eagle Animal Crystal. Taylor had been quite upset while packing for the trip and to help her feel better about the move, Michelle had given to Taylor the Animal Crystal, telling her that it ws time for her to be a big girl. A symbol of this sudden growth Michelle was needing from Taylor was the Animal Crystal. It worked: Taylor decided to fill the role that was given to her and was a "big girl", helping to make the transition from the house to the airport as smooth as possible.

Taylor's favorite book was a fairytale written by Adler, Evans, and Landors (before Dr. Landors had married Dr. Evans). It was a children's book depicting a version of the story of how the Animarium was lifted up from Animaria. She had grown quite excited at the airport when her father, Douglas, had revealed to her that many scientists believed that where they were going (Turtle Cove) was the actual place where Animaria had once been. Taylor's mind began to wander, believing that one day she would be able to find the Animarium and meet the Ancient Warriors drawn in the book. Their design was invented by Dr. Landors, who also did the illustrations in the book. Future: Omega Ranger was surprised at the illustrations as he saw them: they looked nearly identical to who he knew were the Wild Force Power Rangers. He wasn't surprised when the Time Force Cameras' mental readings showed to him that Taylor felt a special connection to the Yellow Wild Force Ranger.

As the plane flew closer and closer to Turtle Cove, Wallace the Eagle Wild Zord on the Animarium shot his head up. He had been flying near a mountain when the signal came in strong: the Animal Crystal was near. _Very_ near.

 _I... I shouldn't..._ Wallace thought. _Leon will be so mad at me, but... I have to! It's no coincidence! The user of the Animal Crystal must have heard my link and is coming to reply to it!_

He landed on a cliff. Closing his eyes, he began emitting his Animal Energy out to link to the Animal Crystal. The energy pulsed through the air and out to the airplane. It was close.

On the plane, Taylor noticed the lights begin to blink on and off. She slowly looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but was disappointed to see everyone was fast asleep. It was weird in her mind that they were sleeping, since it was only a six hour flight. She knew not that the enchantment over the Animarium caused everyone but the pilots to fall asleep to help no one see it. For the pilots themselves, Animal Spirit Energy with Nathadian Magic swam from the Animarium to keep them continually looking past the Animarium, Magically causing them to not notice it although it was right there for them to see. Then, to Taylor's surprise, the shutter to her window began to clatter up and down.

She stared at it for a moment, then reached forward to open the shutter. She felt as if there was something calling out to her, which in fact there was. It was Wallace, synching himself to the Animal Crystal and unknowingly to its new owner: Taylor. The little girl grabbed the shutter tab and lifted it up. She slowly looked out the window and her jaw dropped in unbelief. She was not blinded by any Magic. Right there beside the plane was the Animarium in all its magnificence. She was elated.

 _I knew it!_ She thought. _Daddy was right! The Animarium_ _is_ _in Turtle Cove!_

"Mommy!" Taylor yelled, turning and shaking her mother awake. "Mommy, look!"

"What is it, Honey?" Michelle asked, waking up and leaning toward the window that Taylor was pulling her toward.

With all the happiness in her bubbling out in her countenance, little Taylor pointed out the window. "Look! It's the Animarium!"

Michelle tilted a bit and looked out the window. The moment Taylor had awoken her, Nathadian Magic had wrapped itself around her mind, blocking her from being able to perceive the Animarium. She looked and could not see a thing,

Chuckling, leaning back to fall asleep again, Michelle said, "I think someone's been reading that book too much."

Taylor frowned, still pointing. "But it was right there..."

Michelle, seeing how upset her daughter was, decided to close the shutter to get her mind to stop wandering with the shape the clouds were making outside. After she closed it, she leaned back once again, intent on returning to her Magically induced sleepiness.

"Get some rest, Honey." She said, smiling at her daughter.

Seeing her mother fall back asleep, Taylor decided to check again. She leaned her face as close as she could to the glass without touching it as she opened the shutter again. She peered into the clouds, trying hard to see the Animarium.

During this, Wallace smiled to himself. _I'm connected. I... It's a little girl! But she has the spirit of a fighter! Yes... just like Brynja! The same blood boils in her veins! Well, whatever happens now I can feel her. I will be her private guardian, there for her if ever she needs it!_

Back on the plane, Taylor squinted. Behind one Magically created cloud she could just barely make out the peak of one of the mountains of the Animarium.

 _I knew it!_ She thought happily. _I knew it was real! And I'm gonna find it. I don't care what anyone else says. The Animarium_ _is_ _real, and I'm going to do everything I can to get back up here in the sky and find it!_


	22. 1990: The Joker Returns

**1990: The Joker Returns**

 ** _1990 AD - Universe M5331Z-B_**

"So... how was karate today?" Dick Grayson asked as his son, Carter, as he jumped into the back of the car.

"It was great!" Carter yelled out. "And afterward, there was a clown who came in and gave us all candy!"

Dick cocked an eyebrow. "Candy? That's weird... Why would your teacher give you guys candy after a workout?"

Carter laughed. "No! Not the teacher! It was _after_ practice! He walked up to us as we left the class in the hallway!"

Swallowing hard, Dick pulled to the side of the road. He then turned and looked at Carter. "Did you eat it!?"

"Yeah... did I do something wrong!?" Carter asked, suddenly worried. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the candies: it was a gumdrop. "Did... did you want some? I still have one left over..."

Dick sighed in relief as he grabbed it from Carter and sniffed it. He couldn't smell anything on it, which was a good indication to his trained nose that it was okay.

"Just... next time, don't accept candy from strangers," Dick said.

"But you should've seen him! He wasn't a stranger! He was a clown! He had pasty white skin, green hair, and a purple suit!" Carter exclaimed.

Dick had almost pulled back onto the road, but stopped when he heard the description. "Carter? Did he have big, red lips?"

"Yeah! He did!" Carter cried out. "He said his name was the Joker!"

Furrowing his brow, Dick turned around. "Carter? We're going home _as fast as possible_. Hold on tight."

"Huh?" Carter asked.

Revving his engine, Dick suddenly had a foot made of lead. It hit the accelerator as hard as he could, peeling out of the shoulder and onto the road. It was suddenly as if he was back on his motorcycle when he had once been Nightwing, many years prior. He was zipping in and out of lanes, trying to get home as soon as possible.

"What's wrong, Dad!?" Carter asked, terrified.

"Someone very bad from a long time ago is going to try and pay a visit to Mom," Dick said. "And I'm gonna stop him."

. . .

There was a knock on the door. A woman's voice could be heard coming from outside on the doorstep. Barbara pulled her wheelchair closer to the door as the woman spoke. The woman had a distinct Brooklyn accent.

"Hiya! Anyone there!?" The woman asked. "I'm from the postal service! I got a package for ya!"

"Just one moment, please." Barbara, the former Batgirl, said. She wheeled herself over to the door and looked into the peephole that was created for her to be at her eyelevel. She furrowed her brow when all she saw was darkness.

 _Someone's trying to keep their identity a secret..._ Barbara thought. _They picked the wrong house to bamboozle..._

"Just one moment..." Barbara called out as she wheeled herself back down the ramp, still facing the door. "I forgot the... um... tip."

"Tip!? I'm a mail lady, sistah!" The woman shrieked. "I don't get _tips_!"

"Oh, Harley. You're an idiot," A man's voice suddenly was heard saying. "We've been made! Stand back..."

"Okay, Mr. J!" The woman named Harley was heard saying.

Barbara was worried. She made it to the phone as the door exploded off its hinges. She stared in shock as the woman named Harley performed a cartwheel as she entered the house. She was chewing gum, laughing as she looked around.

"Ya really keep a tidy house!" Harley observed. "A little too... _sane_ though. Not enough _crazy_."

Barbara reached under her seat and pulled out her gun. Without thinking twice she fired at Harley. She fired three times, and all three bullets hit Harley in the trunk region. Barbara watched as Harley was taken offguard, being hurled back into a wall from the sheer force of the impact of the bullets.

"Harley, Harley... tsk, tsk..." The man referred to as "Mr. J" said, walking into the room. He was shaking his head as he walked in.

"Impossible..." Barbara said, looking at the man before her. It was the Joker.

"Huh?" Joker asked. He then realized and giggled. "Oh, you mean me? I'm not _him_. I'm not the man you and your gang of superheroes viciously _murdered_. I'm his _son_! And now it's finally time... for _revenge_."

Barbara pointed her gun at Joker and fired several times. She emptied her clip into him. Joker staggered back before laughing.

"Ah-hahahaha!" He cried out. "I'm not _stupid_. Ever hear of a bulletproof vest!?"

"Mr. J?" Harley piped up, slowing standing. "You didn't tell me that a suit would still _hurt_. Ouchie..."

"There's always drugs for the pain, Sweetie." Joker said reassuringly before turning back to Barbara. "Now, my mother told me so much about the _pain_ you caused dear old papa... Of course, I see you still have his token of gratitude."

"Can I keep her!?" Harley said suddenly, as if right then and there she realized the novelty of Barbara being in a wheelchair. "I'll call her Roller-Barb!"

"What do you want!?" Barbara screamed, trying to think how she'd get to the shotgun right behind Joker in the closet.

"Revenge, my sweet Batgirl," Joker said.

"For what!? I wasn't the one who destroyed your father!" Barbara insisted.

"Oh, I know, I know..." Joker said. "It was good ol' Batsy! And just like the Batman took my dad from me, I'm going to take something from _him_. You and your whole family..."

"You're insane!" Barbara spat.

Joker bowed. "Thank you for noticing. It took Harley here a little too long to figure _that_ out, and she was my psychiatrist!"

Harley giggled. "I'll get the instrument!"

Barbara watched in horror as Harley ran out of the room. Returning, she was carrying a massive, comically oversized mallet. Barbara could tell Harley was having a hard time carrying it, trying to steady herself.

"Harley wasn't lying when she said she had a package for you," Joker said. "It's a tenderizer! You see, we have a couple of hyenas at home, in remembrance of my dear ol' father."

As Joker said that, he placed a hand to his heart. Almost as if on cue, Harley placed the mallet down and leaned on it, playing "Taps" with a kazoo she pulled out of a pocket in her outfit. All the while, Barbara stared at them as if she were trapped in an insane asylum.

As the song finished, Joker wiped a tear from his eye. "Now... where was I? Oh, yes. Our hyenas need some meat, and that would be _you_. Harley's gonna beat you to smithereens, then that annoying husband of yours, then finally your son. Then we're going to put you all through a grinder and feed you to our hyenas, recording the whole thing on camera and then sending it to Bats!"

"No, you're not!" Dick Grayson screamed as he leapt forward through the hole where the door had once been.

"Ahh! Harley!" Joker screamed as he was tackled by the fifty something year old man.

"On it, Mr. J!" Harley said, sprinting forward to end Barbara Gordon's life.

Then, suddenly, from out of the darkness in a corner of the room came a deep and menacing voice.

"I don't _think_ so."

Coming from seemingly out of nowhere, Batman flew through the air. He performed a jumpkick, planting his foot square in Harley's face. He landed nimbly, standing up straight and in between Barbara and the chaos.

"Bruce...?" Barbara gasped.

"Sorry I haven't returned any of the Christmas cards," Batman said. "I've been busy."

"Mr. J! Time for plan 'b'!" Harley screamed from on the ground, blood dripping from her lip.

Joker looked at her, pinned to the ground as Dick straddled his back and forced his face to be ground up against the carpet. He could feel the carpet fibers causing rug burn on his cheek.

"I'm... busy..." Joker managed to say. "Plan... 'q'..."

"But we don't have any camels!" Harley protested.

"That's 'x', you idiot!" Joker screamed.

"Oh, yeah..." Harley said, blushing. She then pulled a small remote from another ambiguous pocket on her person. She pushed the button. Suddenly, Carter was beside her.

"What!?" Dick screamed.

"Let Mr. J go, or he gets it! Not even Bats over here can move fast enough to stop me from sticking the kid like a pig!" Harley demanded.

"Do it, Dick," Batman said.

Dick sneered. "Fine..."

Joker pushed him off and stood up. He looked at Batman, a smile spreading across his broad face. The cheek that had been pinned against the carpet was still bright red from the rubbing, with a few speckles of blood.

"Okay, Batman..." Joker said. "This is our first little tango. You're surprisingly spry for a man in his sixties!"

"What do you want?" Batman demanded. "Just trying to walk in your father's footsteps?"

"No! I'm _better_ than him," Joker spat. "But I need to prove it first by _beating you_. I can't get Green Arrow, since Luthor already nixed him..."

"That was Luthor, huh?" Batman said. "Thanks for the tidbit."

"What does it matter? Luthor kicked the bucket _years_ ago!" Joker said in a sing-songy voice. "Or do you want to end Oliver Queen's cold case? It doesn't matter, because after this, _you'll_ be the one on a slab in the morgue! Even though you weren't the one who dealt the final blow, you will stay pay for your part in his demise!"

"You're so attractive when you're delusional, babe," Harley said, melting over Joker's every word.

"Thanks, Dear," Joker said. "Now, the candy I gave little Carter here put a device in him. It's connected to Harley's remote, and will teleport him to wherever we program it to. Do what I say, or Carter will find himself at the bottom of Mariner Bay itself!"

"What are your demands, Joker!?" Batman yelled.

"Did... did you hear that!?" Joker cried out. "He actually called me Joker! Woo-hoo!"

"You sure have come a long way from that asylum, Mr. J. I'm proud of you," Harley said, beaming.

"No more nonsense!" Dick screamed. "Just tell us what you want!"

"Okay, okay! _Sheesh_!" Joker complained. "Harley here will be the cameragirl. She is gonna record Bats here murder Dick and Barbara, then he unmasks himself to show that he is Bruce Wayne before committing suicide! If you do this, then I promise little Carter here will be just fine!"

"What!?" Dick cried out. "No way!"

"Then little Carter gets the swimming lesson he never wanted..." Joker threatened.

"So, you were planning on me showing up all along?" Batman said.

"Of course! You're a master detective! I _knew_ you'd find us! You were a little late, though," Joker added. "I really thought Barbara was going to meet her end with that mallet..."

"Okay. I'll do it," Batman said.

"No!" Dick and Barbara screamed as they heard Carter begin to cry.

"I knew you were too much of a softy, Bats!" Joker screamed. "Harley? Get the camera!"

Harley nodded. Right as she did, Batman threw a batarang at her hand, causing the remote to fly out of her palm. Before anyone could react, Batman performed a handspring and landed right next to the device. He picked it up and slipped it into his utility belt.

"Plan 'z'!" Joker screamed in a panic.

Pushing his cufflink, Joker revealed it was actually a button. Suddenly, various portions of the house began to explode. He and Harley had apparently placed dynamite around the house as a last minute course of action.

"Ahhh!" Carter screamed as he saw flames erupt around him.

"Get Barbara!" Batman yelled to Dick. "I'll get Carter!"

"You can't just walk back into my life after all these years and tell me what to do!" Dick screamed.

"Now, you idiot! They'll burn!" Batman screamed.

As Dick frowned, you turned and leapt over debris to get to his wheelchair bound wife. As he ran to her to get her out of some rubble, Joker and Harley tackled Batman from behind.

"You're going to pay for ruining my plans!" Joker screamed. "The ratings were going to be through the roof! But now it's _ruined_!"

Batman pushed himself off the ground, causing both Harley and Joker to fly off of him. He threw a batarang at Harley, and it exploded before it hit her. She began coughing from the smoke coming off the batarang and also the immense fire continuing to roar. She tripped over some furniture and fell onto her back, unconscious.

Joker sneered. "How _dare_ you!? You know how long it took me to _train_ her!?"

"Not nearly as long as it'll take me to take you down." Batman replied, leaping forward and tackling Joker. He hit the clown hard, sending them both flying out of a window.

As that happened, the first began to pick up. Flames bolted from where they were to the open window. The air began to feed the fire, causing it to burn bigger and brighter.

"Carter!" Barbara gasped as Dick set her down on the lawn.

"I'll go get him," Dick said. He then turned to open the door, but staggered back as the knob burned his palm.

"You can't open it, or you'll get hit by a draft!" Barbara shouted.

"But what about Carter!?" DIck screamed.

"We're going to have to trust that Bruce will get him..." Barbara said reluctantly.

"No!" Dick screamed. "I'm going to find a way in."

Barbara watched in pain as she watched her husband run around to try and find another entrance to the house. In his prime she wouldn't have been worried, but he wasn't Nightwing anymore. He hardly ever trained, and he was a lot heavier than he used to be. She feared suddenly that she may lose both her husband and son all at once...

Meanwhile, Carter ran through the maze of flames and debris, still in the main living quarters. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, let alone think. He was scared and alone. He was trapped.

. . .

In the firetruck rushing to the Grayson residence, Captain Bill Mitchell sat with some other fire fighters.

"So, why is some military hotshot coming with us to this?" One of the firemen asked curiously.

Mitchell smiled at him. _What am I supposed to say? That not only am I on assignment here to help rangle in a maniac who escaped from Arkham Asylum, but I'm also here to help bring in the vigilante known as Batman? Oh, and also there's a kid who General McKnight just informed me may actually qualify for a top secret government think tank called Alphabet Soup, that's filled with kids who are gifted and are supposed to be the key to America's future security? Yeah, that'll fly over well..._

"I used to be a firefighter," Bill said truthfully. "I had the day off and I miss the rush."

"Whatever floats your boat..." The guy replied, turning back to speak with his team.

A few minutes later, Bill found himself rushing out of the firetruck. He ran to where there seemed to be a disabled woman crying on the lawn. He knew exactly who she was, because of the files McKnight had given him: Barbara Gordon Grayson, the former Batgirl. She was married to the former hero Nightwing, who were both relocated to live in anonymity under the Superhero Registration Act. They were both former associates of Batman, whose identity was still secret and who was an outlaw, refusing to put up his cape and cowl and leave law fighting in the hands of the government.

"My husband..." She sobbed, feeling useless. "He's still in there! He's trying to save my son!"

As the firefighters rushed to try and get into the house, Bill crouched beside Barbara. He tried to put a smile on his face to calm her down.

"My name is Captain William Mitchell. I know what's _really_ going on here. Where's Batman and Joker?"

Barbara suddenly had a look of worry crawl upon her face, different than before. She was worried that she and her family may be placed under probation for breaking the Superhero Registration Act.

"I... we didn't do this," She stated slowly. "They just showed up here and-"

"I know, I know. You're not in trouble," Bill stated reassuringly. "Just tell me where they are."

"Last time I checked, Batman was trying to save my son and those two freaks were attacking him."

" _Two_!?" Bill asked, surprised. "Who's the other?"

"Someone by the name of Harley..." Barbara said.

"Thank you. I'll find them. I promise." Bill found himself saying as he got up and ran toward the house.

 _I_ _promise_ _!?_ Bill thought, shocked. _You_ _never_ _promise things like that! What if you can't save them!? Well, I guess that's not a choice..._

Bill furrowed his brow and ran at a wall. Jumping at he, his toe hit a point about four feet off the ground. Using his amazing speed and strength, he kicked up. The momentum helped push him up higher, causing him to get within fingers' reach of the gutter surrounding the house. His wall jump successful, he got a better grip with both hands and performed a pull up to get himself onto the roof. He found a small window on the roof. Slipping his mask on, he simply jumped onto the glass. It shattered around him, flames dancing up and licking at him as he did a free fall into the house.

"Oof!" The brave fireman cried out as he landed, his ankle twisting badly.

Bill stood up slowly, surprised the flames didn't keep their place on his person. He took a step forward and sneered.

"That's definitely fractured," Bill found himself saying outloud.

Clenching his jaw, he continued to walk while ignoring the pain. He had people to save, and his own discomfort was completely irrelevant. He began searching through rooms in the large house, yelling into each one to see if he could find either Carter, Dick, Batman, Joker, or this mysterious "Harley".

 _Wait..._ Bill thought. _Wasn't the name of Joker's psychiatrist at Arkham named Harley!? No way... Did he_ _convert_ _her!? I mean, his file said he was a manipulative man with a high IQ, but to corrupt your own psychiatrist!? Okay, Bill... ya gotta be careful with him. He may be more dangerous than we thought..._

Suddenly, Bill saw two firefighters rushing toward him, with Dick Grayson unconscious on one of their shoulders.

"Found this one passed out!" One yelled. "Keep searching for other survivors!"

"This enough of a rush for ya!?" The other yelled at Bill, referencing what he told him earlier in the firetruck.

"You have no idea..." Bill muttered under his breath, continuing to ignore the pain in his ankle as he continued to search for young Carter.

Bill then saw a red door. Rushing to it, he felt the knob. It wasn't too hot, so he took a chance and opened it, hoping for no back draft.

"Is there anyone in here!?" He cried out, as he had done with several rooms up to that point. Sweat was pouring down his brow, beginning to sting his eyes as it hit them.

That's when he heard the coughing. He looked and saw Carter on his face in the middle of the floor. He was obviously losing oxygen quickly. Bill rushed to him and crouched at his side.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" Bill asked as he held Carter in his arms.

Carter nodded. He couldn't quite get the air to reply verbally, but the gesture was enough. Bill had been afraid to carry Carter, despite his low weight, due to his ankle. He stood up and began to walk with Carter toward the still open red door.

As he got closer, though, something terrible happened. The experienced fireman knew it was going to happen before it actually happened, due to the sounds telegraphing to him its coming. It was a beam from the ceiling. The fire had gotten to it and it was unable to stay intact. Right as Mitchell reached the door, he rushed forward and caught the beam on his right shoulder. He knew if he hadn't that it would've hit Carter and ended his Life.

The pain was incredible. Not only was he trying to keep the heavy beam from falling down and hitting Carter with his bad ankle, but he could feel flames eating away at his suit. The intense heat itself was already gnawing away at his flesh. Bill Mitchell could feel his skin begin to blister and bubble only because of the proximal heat. He knew it was about to become a lot worse if the fire got past his heat suit.

Bill knew he couldn't hold on much longer. "Go! _Quickly_!"

Carter was in shock. He had a man literally on fire in front of him, and in Carter's mind it looked like he was holding the entire house up with his shoulders. Carter was afraid that he would do something wrong and cause Captain Mitchell to lose his footing, ending them both. Too scared to talk (and still having difficulty breathing), Carter could only shake his head.

Bill was losing strength and quickly. He motioned again at Carter to leave before yelling, "Get out of here!"

Carter suddenly snapped out of his funk. He bolted like his life depended on it (which it did) out the door and into the hallway. As he did, one of the firemen happened upon him. Thinking quickly, the fireman scooped Carter up and onto his shoulder. He turned and began to run to the opening the firmen had created to safely get in and out of the house. As they ran, Carter kept his eyes trained on Bill. He wore a smile on his face as he watched Bill throw the beam off of him.

 _He's a_ _hero_ _!_ Carter thought in awe. _He's amazing... I want to be just like him when I grow up. I'm gonna save people, just like him!_

A fiery shelf in the room with Bill finally had enough: one of its legs melted so badly it caused the whole shelf to topple over. The fiery piece of furniture fell to the side and hit the red door, causing it to slam shut just as Bill ripped the mask off his face (inadvertently stopping Carter from seeing the face of his hero).

 _He's gonna be okay._ Bill thought happily, thinking of the smile he had seen on Carter's face. _Now, for the rest of my mission..._

Bill turned around. Suddenly, he saw someone else in the room. He limped over to her: it was Harley.

"Dr. Quinzel!?" Bill yelled, leaning beside her.

"Mr. J?" Harley muttered under her breath.

Bill looked at her and the costume she was wearing. She had definitely gone native.

"Oh, dear..." Bill said. "I gotta get you out of here... And you're under arrest... yadda yadda you can't hear me anyway."

Within moments, Bill carried Harley out of the house. He threw her on the lawn and cuffed her.

"You always carry handcuffs on you?" One of the firemen asked.

"Only when they're needed," Bill answered with a smile.

"Look!" Someone yelled.

Everyone turned and looked in the direction of the finger that was pointing up to the roof. On top of it was Batman, holding Joker by the throat.

"Captain William Mitchell!?" Batman yelled down to him.

Mithcell was shocked. _How did he know I was here!?_

"Make sure this thing doesn't get out anymore." Batman said, dropping Joker.

Bill watched in awe and terror as Joker fell off the roof and landed in a heap. He was unconscious, but badly beaten.

"He's still alive," Batman said. "He'll need medical attention soon, though."

"Wait!" Mitchell cried out.

"I'm not coming in. Not now, not ever." Batman stated as he turned his back. He then disappeared into the shadows.

As the police came in and began to do their report, Bill looked over at Carter. Dick and Barbara were gushing over him, thrilled that he was alive.

 _Bill..._ Mitchell thought to himself. _You know what Alphabet Soup is. Look at how much this family's been through. They'll hardly ever get to see their kid again, and even when they do he'll be... different... You've seen some of the kids that have gone in and how they've changed. That's why you changed Dana's profile and made it look like she didn't qualify. And that smile Carter had... He doesn't deserve that... Neither does his family. They've been through enough._

It only took an hour. Bill returned to his office. He found Carter's file and slipped it into his own files. He then modified his test results against General of the Army Rex's algorithm to make it appear that Carter was not a Potential. After that, Carter was completely off the grid. Bill ordered the Men in Black to even go in and partially Neuralize Carter, so the bits involving the Joker were wiped from his mind. Bill had sat down with Barbara and Dick at the hospital and explained to them why he thought the Neuralizer was necessary, and also how he was hiding Carter from Alphabet Soup.

"The government is really doing something like that?" Barbara asked as they sat in the waiting room of the Children's Hospital ER. "That's horrible..."

"It's something my superiors think is important," Bill said. "I'm beginning to think differently about it. I'm just wanting to warn you... please, keep him out of the limelight, okay? So he doesn't fall back under their radar."

"Will do, Captain Mitchell," Dick said. "And thank you. You've done so much for us today. It means a lot..."

"No problem. Have a good night," Bill said, bidding them farewell and leaving.

 _I know what it's like to lose a son..._ Bill thought as he limped into his car. _I... I can't let anyone else lose their kid to monsters... whether they're Demons or Humans. That's it... I'm on the inside. From this point onward, I'm going to do all I can to protect people from Alphabet Soup. I'll take their files and hide them._

Bill looked over at the little piece of tech he had been given by Dr. Harlen that was sitting on the passenger seat. He opened it up and looked at the file for Mariner Bay. He found a name of a girl who was listed as not being a Potential, but still someone who should be considered for Alphabet Soup: a young girl named Kelsey Winslow, granddaughter of Donna Winslow (who was secretly the former wife of Bruce Wayne).

 _Okay, then..._ Bill thought. _Time to delete some files..._

. . .

Billionnaire Bruce Wayne, the alter ego of Batman, sat in his underground lair, which the late Alfred Pennyworth had affectionately referred to as a "Batcave". He sat before his massive computer monitor, looking over his files like the good detective he was.

"Intertesting..." Bruce said outloud.

He had known beforehand that Bill Mitchell was in Mariner Bay, searching for the Joker. What Bruce hadn't known until that point (through clever hacking and detective work), was that Mitchell was an agent of General of the Army Rex.

"And so the plot thickens..." Bruce grumbled. He winced as he tried to stand up from his chair.

He had gotten into a good fight with Joker. Had it been even ten years earlier, Joker wouldn't have stood a chance. Unfortunately for Bruce, it _hadn't been_ ten years earlier. Joker was young and agile, able to land some good hits due to Bruce's lack of mobility (compared to his youth).

Bruce looked over and pushed a button on his console, causing his files on Rex to appear. He then dragged the folder for Mitchell and slipped it into the Rex folder.

"Now... are you attached to Alphabet Soup?" Bruce wondered. He had discovered Rex's pet project a year earlier, when he had discovered the original Joker, Jaq, had a son who was in Arkham Asylum. Accidentally finding out about Alphabet Soup caused Bruce to have a hobby of looking into it to find out more about it.

Sighing, Bruce opened up a file that his computer had recently found. It was of Donna Winslow's granddaughter, Kelsey. _His_ granddaughter. Apparently she was a part of Alphabet Soup.

"You lay a finger on her..." Bruce threatened to Rex as if he could hear him, sneering as he spoke.

Daily Bruce regretted leaving Donna. But he didn't want to bring her into the mess and madness that was his life as Batman. Seeing that even though he sacrificed his own happiness to keep Donna safe that his granddaughter was still being brought into the mess was infuriating to him. That was, at least, until he saw right before his eyes Kelsey's file begin to change.

"What?" Bruce wondered.

He saw each of her stats be changed, to make it look like she was below average when in fact she was in the "exceptional" category. What made Kelsey tip the scale was her neural synaptic connections to her motor units in her muscles. Apparently she had some sort of advanced mental connection to her body to help her be able to not fatigue quickly, giving her muscles extreme endurance.

Bruce did some checking. "Bill Mitchell... you're the one changing the file?"

Looking deeper, Bruce found two other changed files: one was his own daughter named Dana. The other was the son of Dick, his former partner1: Carter.

"Change of heart?" Bruce wondered. "It's not going to do you any good, though. You're sloppy. If it took me a couple of minutes to see your work without looking, you're in trouble. Hmm... Let's see if I can give you a hand..."

Bruce programmed his computer accordingly. Whenever Bill logged on to change and modify files, Bruce would cover up Bill's tracks without Bill knowing. Bruce wish he could go in and delete files himself, but the government's firewall was too good to allow him that sort of access. Cleaning up after Bill, though? That was something he could do without being tracked, since he was simply piggybacking off of Bill's IP address.

Then, Bruce saw something else. A file. He opened it. On the file was a young girl. She had jet black hair and a vacant look on her face. She was surrounded by U.S. soldiers.

"Okay, Ace," The man holding the camera said. "You're on!"

Bruce watched in awe as her eyes turned purple. Suddenly the soldiers around her began yelling. They fell to their knees, blood pouring from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

"Excellent!" The cameraman yelled. The camera then turned to show his face: it was Dr. Levoy of Bio-Lab.

"This is Alphabet Soup Test number seven. Subject codenamed Ace is fully operational!" Levoy said happily.

Bruce furrowed his brow. "Time to fight fire with fire..."

Bruce tried to stand up, but winced again in discomfort. Almost as if it were real, he heard in his mind Alfred chastizing him for trying to do a young man's job as an old man. That's when it hit him: the solution to his problem.

"Maybe I _am_ too old for this..." Bruce said sadly. "But, maybe I can take a page out of your book, Rex."

Bruce began to skim through the files of Alphabet Soup of the not yet contacted kids. He was looking for some specific things: agility, cunning, speed, high IQ, social outcast, rebel, teenager. Those were things he needed in what his new idea had given to him to be the child he was looking for. Old enough to be a little mature, yet moldable. No social ties to not bring him down. Ability to learn the techniques Bruce had learned from Pai Zhua Master Swoop. Smart enough to be a detective.

"There you are..." Bruce said, a smile landing on his face.

It felt odd, since Bruce realized he hadn't smiled since Alfred had passed away. That's when Bruce realized he was happy with the plan he had come up with. He then went and created a new folder: Batman Beyond. He copied the contents of the file and put them into the folder. The subject was named Terry McGinnis.

"Now to contact Captain Mitchell," Bruce said to himself. "We're going to have to delete you from the grid if you are to become the next Batman."


	23. 1991: The Gem of Souls

**1991: The Gem of Souls**

 _ **1991 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

"Mr. Lothor?"

Lothor turned around to see the Student Body President to his Evil Alien School, Nekros. He was also one of two interns from the school to work for Lothor Industries.

"Yes, Nekros!" Lothor said happily. "What can I do for you, my wielder of Death?"

Nekros laughed. He had become a real powerhouse in the Evil Alien School, but Lothor kept Nekros' true powers under wraps so that Dark Specter wouldn't try to recruit him to _his_ Alphabet Soup. The reason for that was because Nekros was actually a member of the secret Alphabet Soup that Mavro had under wraps. Nekros was a person with a very special ability: a near perfect connection to the Black portion of the Emotional Spectrum. Mavro planned to use Nekros to use his connection to the Black Energy of the universe to be able to raise up Zombies and other Undead warriors for the Armada. He had already given the Armada access to artificial Zombats, the same Jinxer used to cause Demons to grow (though these Zombats needed special machinery to help them use the Black Energy tech Nekros helped the Armada scientist, Levira, create).

"Well, I just got an invoice from King Aradon. He said he's caving in and will pay the rate you told him for that plasma blaster." Nekros said, handing the invoice to Lothor.

Lothor smiled. "Perfect! Now, after you ship that to him, do you know what to do?"

"Um... Collect the money?" Nekros asked, unsure.

Suddenly, a groan of frustration was heard coming from behind Nekros. It was the Senior Class President, his twin sister Sirena. She had a very similar situation as her brother, being involved in the Armada's Alphabet Soup but never showing her true power to not attract undue attention to her from the United Alliance of Evil. Unlike her brother, her connection to the Emotional Spectrum was a near perfect one with the White Energy of Life. She could make warriors harder to bring down, giving them essentially more lives and able to be destroyed multiple times in battle. She also had the potential of bringing people back to Life without turning them into a Zombie, but she had yet to master that technique. The only time she had tried the person was only back for a few moments before giving up the ghost again. She was a work in progress when it came to her potential.

"No, dummy." Sirena said to Nekros, pushing off from the wall she was leaning against. "What you gotta do is sell King Aradon the plasma gun, then turn around and sell King Mondo the plasma shield that renders Aradon's weapons useless. That is why Aradon is ordering the blasters, right Lothor?"

Lothor laughed. "Correct, Sirena! Absolutely astounding!"

Rolling his eyes, Nekros said, "Whatever. I'll get it done soon. What are you doing here anyway, Sirena?"

"You need to start reading your memos more than once a day," Sirena counseled to her brother. "I had to track you down to tell you that we found the Gem of Souls."

Lothor perked up his ears. "You _did_!? Why didn't you tell me!?"

"It was _supposed_ to be a surprise," Sirena revealed. "But since Nekros was already here with you, I figured this would be just as good a time to do it."

"Well... where was it?" Nekros asked.

"It was sold to someone on Onyx. A Vampire named Broodwing," Sirena stated.

"Ah, Broodwing..." Lothor said. "Former king of the Vampires!"

"King of the Vampires?" Sirena asked. "How does one go from king to buying black market weapons on Onyx?"

"Well, his wife was involved with Octomus when he tried to overthrow the Magic Realm," Lothor explained. "She was banished to the Underworld with the rest of ' _the Master's_ ' posse. When that happened, the Vampire world revolted against Broodwing, since he wasn't King of Vampires by birth. He was shunned and kicked out of their kingdom. Now he's doing what he can to survive."

"Okay, so you want us to grab it? Sounds good," Nekros said. "But first... what _is_ this Gem of Souls, anyway? You've been talking about it ever since Sirena and I joined Lothor Industries, but you've never told us what it _is_."

Lothor nodded. "Well, I guess it's time I told you. You see, millions of years ago I came to this universe from a different one and-"

"Wait, _what_!?" Sirena interrupted. "You're from a different _universe_!? And you're millions of years old!?"

"Yeah... how did you find the technology to be able to jump across _realities_? From what I can see, science isn't even _close_ to making something like that work," Nekros added.

Lothor smiled. "Silly kids! I used Magic! I had this super complicated algorithm I currently cannot recreate because I no longer have the items which were needed. Those items together, used in the right order, helped me become a being known as the God of Magic. I was defeated by a group of rugrats back in my old dimension and became a... _Demi_ -God, giving me enough power to rip myself to this universe. Well, those punks followed me here and they defeated me again. How they did was just silly. Someone trapped my Spirit inside of some weird thing called the Gem of Souls. A few years ago I was released and I possessed this body, and now I want the thing _back_ so that I don't have to worry about it trapping me again."

"And that's why you want _us_ to get it..." Sirena realized. "You're too afraid to get close to the thing, huh?"

"I _knew_ you were brighter than you looked!" Lothor said encouragingly.

"Thanks... wait, huh?" She replied, confused about whether or not she was complimented.

"So where is Broodwing right now?" Nekros asked.

Sirena snapped out of her trance, still thinking about Lothor's backhanded compliment. "Yeah... um, Broodwing is on his way to Earth, it looks like."

Lothor groaned. "Why is it always _Earth_? Sheesh... I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of Universal Equilibrium thing at hand that keeps drawing everything back there... Well, you two know what to do. Keep this off the books. I don't want anyone knowing about this and tracking it back to you two, or me."

"Even Mavro?" Nekros asked.

Lothor smiled. "Let's just say my plans don't always align with what's best for the Armada. Like you two... who are you more loyal toward? Me, or Mavro?"

"You, of course," Nekros answered.

"As long as I'm on the winning team, it doesn't matter to me," Sirena replied honestly.

"Well, I am definitely the winning team, my dear." Lothor said, smiling. "You don't survive two different universes attacking you with their full strength, and millions of years, without being a _winner_."

"Alright then. Let's go," Sirena said. "We have a Gem to steal."

. . .

Broodwing stood in the forest outside Briarwood. He could _feel_ the portal near that would lead to the Magic Realm. All he had to do was find it, and he'd be closer than ever. In his hand was the glowing Gem of Souls.

"You there! Freeze!" An agent of SHIELD yelled. He pointed a gun at Broodwing. "This is a restricted area!"

Broodwing laughed. "Puny Human! You will rue the day you tried to attack me!"

Before the agent could react, Broodwing flew forward and rammed into him, knocking him onto his back. As he fell, Broodwing landed and stopped.

"Yes... it is near!" Broodwing proclaimed. He then jumped forward, vanishing into the rip between realities.

"This is Agent Huck! We have a breach!" Huck screamed. "Report to Commander Fury!"

. . .

"Zordon! Zordon!" Alpha 5 proclaimed. "We have a message!"

Zordon heard the cries from his Time Warp. Turning from the sand he was drawing weapons designs in, he looked up and mentally turned on the projection. As he did, the blurred vision of his face activated on the tube in the Command Center. With Saba at his feet staring up as well, Zordon could see a man he did not recognize on the Viewing Globe.

"I am Zordon, interdimensional Wizard and protector of Earth. Reveal yourself."

"'Reveal yourself'?" Saba questioned. "A little too uppity, yes?"

As the man began to speak, Zordon shrugged to Saba and whispered, "I have to be threatening or they'll think they can walk all over me!"

"I am Nick Fury."

Zordon cocked an eyebrow. "I worked with Nick Fury for many decades. He passed away, and you are most definitely _not_ him."

The new Fury laughed. "Nick Fury is a title, not a real name. I am the new Fury."

"And is the eyepatch a piece of the uniform?" Zordon said, observing that both the Nick Fury he knew and this apparent new one had similar patches over their eyes.

Fury smiled. "You're quite observant. It's a scanner thing for SHIELD. A small price to pay for the safety of the planet. Now, I'm getting a hold of you because you were listed as an asset by my predecessor. Zordon? Someone has just breached the gap between the Mystic Realm and Earth."

"Mystic Realm?" Alpha 5 asked.

"Oh, right," Fury said. "You must know it as the Magic Realm. Well, we gave it the code name of Mystic Realm, to denote it being hidden, and also about that Mystic Force project happening there."

"Who told you about Mystic Force?" Zordon asked, angry.

"Udonna," Fury said simply. "SHIELD gets around, Zordon. I don't need to ask your permission to speak to others, do I? If so, I think we may have a problem..."

Zordon nodded slowly, trying to control his anger. "Just please keep me informed. No permission needed, but I am trying to amount a defense against a menacing force I know will eventually target Earth. If I am kept aware of all things and who knows who, I will have a better time protecting us."

"Alright, alright..." Fury said. "Well, just to let you know, I already contacted Udonna. She told me that she didn't have the force yet to protect the Mystic Realm if Broodwing brought an army, which we don't have evidence of him having. We also have no evidence that he _doesn't_ , so I'm asking you if you have anyone you could send."

Zordon thought for a moment. "I believe I know of a group that can help."

"Thank you, Zordon. I will have some SHIELD agents cross over and help as well. I hope this will be the start of as strong a relationship as my predecessor had with you."

"As do I," Zordon said. "Thank you for your help and may the Power protect you."

"May the Power protect us all," Fury said, logging off.

"Now what?" Saba asked.

"Alpha?" Asked Zordon through the tube to his assistant. "Contact Master Mao. We need the Pai Zhua."

. . .

 _ **Magic Realm of Earth M54331Z-B**_

Broodwing my love! Necrolai, the Queen of the Vampires, thought spoke to Broodwing via their Vampiric telepathic link from the Underworld.

I made it here, my love. Broodwing said. It was difficulty getting back here with the artifact, but I did it.

Soon you will meet your lovely daughter! Necrolai exclaimed. She knows all about you, Broodwing. And then you and I will reclaim our thrones in the Vampire Kingdom!

So... All I do is head to the place where the Gate in the Mountains once stood, correct? Broodwing asked as he flew over the trees of the Mystic Realm. Then I place the Gem of Souls there and focus of your Spirit?

Yes! Necrolai answered. And then I will be placed there. All you will need to do is point my Spirit at any bat you find. My Vampire Spirit will morph the body back into my own body, and the same with little Leelee!

I've arrived. Broodwing thought spoke, landing in the spot where Niella had given her Life years earlier to seal Octomus away in the Coridoor Between Realms.

Place it now! I'm ready! Necrolai proclaimed.

"Step away from there!" Master Mao said.

Broodwing spun around as he placed the Gem of Souls in the correct spot. He saw not only Master Mao, but a host of SHIELD agents, Pai Zhua warriors, Ninjas from the Wind Academy, and Wizards.

"You won't stop my reunion!" Broodwing screamed as he leapt forward. "You brought an army!? Well so have _I_!"

Suddenly, Broodwing pulled a remote out of his pocket. Pushing a button on it, several robotic footsoldiers appeared. They were grey in color, with no paint or insignias on them. They had a single bar on their heads, serving as a scanner. They were Broodwing's prototypes for Crybots.

In the Hall of Legends, Future: Omega shook his head. Memories of when he had traveled back in Time to help SPD flooded his mind. He remembered the final battle against Broodwing, and how he, Jack, Sky, Syd, Z, and Bridge had been able to corner him and arrest him. It was odd seeing how Broodwing had gotten his start, being there for his "end".

"Attack!" Master Mao shouted.

In the midst of the Ninjas was the new headmaster for the Wind Academy. It was noneother than Kanoi Watanabe. He stood proud and ready, with a more confident and poised air about him than when Omega Ranger had last seen him.

"Fight hard, Wind Ninjas! Yah!" Kanoi screamed, rushing ahead.

The battle ensued. Fire, Magic, and Martial Art Energy erupted from around the battlefield. The forces of good were not only outnumbered, but stumped at how to defeat these footsoldiers.

"They're strong!" Master Finn of the Pai Zhua cried out.

Master Swoop nodded. "It's their metal frames. It's the hardest substance I have ever gone up against."

"Tell the Cubs to stand back!" Master Phant yelled. "They aren't ready for this!"

Master Mao nodded. He leapt over some Proto-Crybots and began to grab each of the Cubs, or Pai Zhua in training, by the shoulder and pull them out of battle. One by one, they were moved to the edge of the field to watch and not get injured. All, except two. One was the eleven year old son of Master Finn, Robert James Finn. The other was his good friend, ten year old Dominic Hargan. They began sneaking back into the fight once Mao was out of the way.

"This is _stupid_ , RJ." Dominic said as they tried to look for a good spot to jump in for a sneak attack. "How are we ever going to learn if we don't get to fight _real fights_!?"

"I hear you, bro." RJ said, focusing hard on a Proto-Crybot that had stumbled near them. "Watch _this_! Jungle Beast, Spirit unleashed!"

A mighty Shark Spirit erupted from him, flowing ahead to hit the Proto-Crybot. RJ kept his mind focused, trying to maintain contact with the Spirit projection (which looked like a Wild Zord, due to the incident with Black Lion causing most of the Animal Kingdom to be converted to zords to fight the Orgs using the Transdaggers). As the Shark Spirit got close, the Proto-Crybot turned and saw it, but too late. The attack hit him, causing him to fall back.

"No!" RJ screamed. "Man... he's not destroyed... I'm _never_ gonna get the hang of the Shark!"

"Watch this!" Dom said, grinning. "Rhino Spirit!"

A massive white colored Rhino Zord erupted from Dominic and stampeded toward the Proto-Crybot. Not only did it destroy the Proto-Crybot, but also several others behind him.

"Ahh!" Dom cried out. "I can't control it! It's out of control!"

Master Swoop stopped in battle, suddenly doing a backflip to avoid the Rhino Spirit he had felt coming toward him. The blind Pai Zhua Master then turned and looked to Master Mao.

"I think this is the young Hargan boy," Swoop said. "It feels as if he's lost control of his Animal Spirit..."

Mao nodded. "You're right. I can also feel Finn's boy with him, too."

Saving a SHIELD agent from a Proto-Crybot, Finn sneered. "That blasted boy! I'll get them both."

Phant nodded, beginning to spin his massive Elephant Mace. "I'll subdue the Rhino Spirit before he causes too much damage. Kids..."

RJ's face flushed to a white color as he saw his father leap through the air to him. "RJ!? What are you doing!?"

"I'm trying to help!" RJ screamed, pulling at Dom.

Dominic was stuck in place, grounded and unable to move. "I think I did something wrong! I can't move!"

"The Rhino is the strongest Animal Spirit there is!" Finn shouted. "You dumb kid... if you'd pay attention in class you'd have known you need to better prep yourself for summoning it!"

Suddenly, RJ saw it: Broodwing escaping Sensei Watanabe and getting to the Gem of Souls. He tried getting his father's attention, but Finn just brushed him off to continue focusing on Dom.

 _This is my chance..._ RJ thought. _My dad always thinks I'm just ruining our family name. But not now! I'm gonna be a hero!_

RJ broke out in a sprint, right toward Broodwing. He knew not what Broodwing was doing, but he didn't care. All he knew was that Broodwing was a bad guy and he was needing to be stopped.

Broodwing! Necrloai suddenly screamed in her husband's mind. Don't do it! Koragg has found me and is trying to break through to the surface world in my place. He's using his Dark Magic to take my place!

I've already started the process, though! Broodwing cried out in his mind. Fight him!

I can't, my love! Necrolai screamed. He's too strong!

Right then and there, RJ jumped and kicked Broodwing in the face, causing him to stumble and fall onto his back. RJ then channeled his Shark Spirit into his hands and bent down to grab the Gem of Souls.

"No!" Broodwing shouted.

"RJ!" Mao screamed, turning to see one of the Academy's Cubs in danger.

As that happened, RJ suddenly felt a voice in his mind: Fool Human! I am the mighty Koragg! You think you can defeat me!?

You know it... The young boy thought, focusing his Animal Spirit into the Gem of Souls.

"No!" Mao yelled as he saw Finn rushing to help his son. "If you touch him now, you may destroy him! There is a delicate balance of Energy happening right now we can't disturb!"

"Necrolai! No!" Broodwing screamed as two people in SHIELD uniforms grabbed him by the shoulders and began to drag him away.

"We got him!" One yelled as they began to pull him away. All the while, the battle between the forces of good and the Proto-Crybots continued.

How dare you try and fight me! Koragg screamed. And with the Spirit of the Shark!? Ha! You don't even have a strong connection to it! Feel _real_ power!

Everyone around watched in awe as the Blue Shark Energy RJ was pumping into the Gem of Souls began to be overwhelmed by Koragg's Purple Wolf Energy. RJ could feel the Wolf beginning to beat down his Shark.

 _No! I can't lose!_ RJ thought. _My dad will never accept me if I lose..._

"Ahhhh!" RJ screamed, falling to his knees. The Purple Energy of the Wolf began to move up his arm as he fell.

"No! Mao!? I can't just stand here!" Finn screamed.

Right then, Master Swoop flew in and landed next to RJ. Motioning for the others that it was okay, he looked at RJ and smiled.

"You can do this, RJ..." Swoop said. He could feel RJ struggling not only against the Wolf, but also against his own Shark. "Sometimes... sometimes we may be born into a situation, but that doesn't mean that is our fate in life, RJ. Listen to my voice... _concentrate_... You can forge your own path, RJ. Do not let anyone else pave your path for you... RJ? Fight fire with fire!"

The words were sinking in, yet RJ could not figure out what Swoop was trying to teach him. _How is this helping me not be destroyed by whatever is trying to climb out of the Underworld!? I just need to focus on my Shark... ugh, I wish Shark wasn't my Spirit! I can't do_ _anything_ _with it! Wait... I get it! That's it! Fight fire with fire!_

Suddenly, RJ's entire body was literally on fire with Purple Wolf Energy flames. Swoop, with a smile on his face, stood up and took a step back. RJ opened his eyes, Purple Energy erupting from them.

"What's happening!?" Finn shrieked, worried over his son as he slashed at a Proto-Crybot with his Shark Blades.

"He's embracing destiny," Swoop answered simply.

What is this!? Koragg screamed.

You were right! Young RJ yelled in his mind. Your Wolf Spirit _does_ have great power. Now it's time for you to feel it right back at ya!

Noooo! Koragg screamed as he felt himself pushed back into the Underworld.

Then, RJ stood up, smiling as he held the Gem of Souls. "I did it!"

Right as he yelled that, two Proto-Crybots leapt at him. As that happened, Master Finn looked in horror and sent his Shark Spirit to help his son, but it was too late. He couldn't reach them in time. Luckily for RJ, though, it wasn't needed. He focused and sent out the last remaining Wolf Energy out of him, obliterating the two enemies.

"Wolf Spirit...!?" Finn gasped, staring as the last of the Wolf Energy left his son.

"Did you see, Dad!?" RJ cried out, running to him. "The Wolf Spirit works so much better for me than the Shark!"

"The Shark is our family tradition!" Finn said, frowning. He then turned his back on RJ and continued fighting the enemies.

"Wait! Dad..." RJ tried shouting out to his dad.

Swoop stepped up behind RJ silently, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes change doesn't suit people... I think it suits _you_ just fine, though."

"What does it matter...?" RJ asked, looking down at the ground sadly. "The Wolf Spirit is gone anyway. I just borrowed it, I guess."

"It doesn't have to be gone," Swoop said. "Anyone can learn a new Animal Spirit if they try hard enough. I can teach you... if you want.

"Really!?" RJ cried out, beaming. His countenance then dropped as he looked down. "Nah. My dad wouldn't-"

"I said if _you_ want. I never said anything about Master Finn." Swoop said, interrupting RJ while simultaneously clothes lining a Proto-Crybot that was running toward a SHIELD agent. "Pave your own path, RJ."

RJ sighed. He thought about how time after time he had problems tapping the Shark Spirit. He then thought about how _right_ the Wolf Spirit he had siphoned from Koragg had felt. How powerful it had been, and how easy it was to use even without the training. He felt as if that was the right Spirit for him all along.

"Okay," RJ stated. "When do we start?"

Swoop smiled. "As soon as we eliminate the rest of these robots."

Meanwhile, a good distance away, Broodwing was tossed at a tree trunk. "You will pay for this, Humans!"

The two fake SHIELD agents laughed, taking off the skull caps they had been wearing to hide their identities. It was Nekros and Sirena.

"Broodwing... you sure have made things difficult for us." Sirena said, pointing at him while her SHIELD uniform transformed into her normal outfit using a machine in her ship in orbit.

"Yeah. Lothor wanted us to grab the Gem of Souls for him," Nekros said. "But now, those fools back there have it."

"If you want it so much, then get it yourselves!" Broodwing yelled. "I can't do anything about it now..."

"Yeah, that's the problem," Nekros continued. "Lothor doesn't take well to failure. And I don't want to be the one to say we failed."

"When we saw the circus you created back there," Began Sirena. "We decided we weren't going to be able to keep ourselves anonymous if we were to try and get the Gem. So, we figured we'd offer Lothor something _else_ as compensation."

"What are you getting at!?" Broodwing demanded. "You're wasting my time!"

"What we're getting at..." Nekros said as his hand began to glow with Black Energy. "Is that you work for _us_ now."

"I don't think so!" Broodwing screamed, throwing out his wings and readying himself for flight.

Sirena focused and summoned her weapon of choice, a massive hammer, into her hand, pointing it toward Broodwing. "Don't move, or I smash you like the bug you are."

"What... what are you going to do!?" Broodwing asked, scared.

Nekros smiled as he outstretched his hand. "I'm just making you... _better_."

Suddenly, Broodwing felt the Black Energy begin to seep from Nekros onto him. It enveloped Broodwing, crawling over him and then seeping into his very body. Into his very _being_. He could feel it begin to _change_ him. It was in his lungs, choking him. In his eyes, blinding him. He could _smell_ it, causing him to gag.

"So, he's a Vampire, right? Isn't he technically already Undead?" Sirena asked.

"Yup," Nekros said. "But now that he's a Zombie Vampire, I can boss him around."

"Never!" Broodwing gasped, finally able to breathe again.

"Sure?" Nekros asked, pointing at Broodwing and clenching his fist.

"Ahhh!" Broodwing yelled, falling to his knees. "My heart!"

"You see, my special Black Energy is in you," Nekros said. "You're already Undead. I just needed to... _rewrite_ your Black Energy a bit to make it _mine_."

"Lothor Industries is always looking for new salesmen," Sirena added. "And although Lothor will be disappointed we didn't get the Gem of Souls, having someone like you working for him may dull the disappointment."

"You will pay for this!" Broodwing declared.

Nekros shrugged. "Maybe, but until karma catches up with us, we may as well live it up!"

"Live like there's no tomorrow, Broody." Sirena laughed as she caused them all to teleport back to her ship.

Back at the battlefield, the last of the Proto-Crybots were eliminated. As that occurred, Master Mao picked up the Gem of Souls and handed it to Sensei Watanabe. The head of the Wind Ninja Academy accepted it graciously.

"Thank you," Sensei Watanabe said. "I appreciate the trust you have for us to take care of it."

"I felt it should go to you," Mao said. "You'll see why..."

As Mao and the rest of the Pai Zhua turned and began to make their way out of the Mystic Realm, Watanabe was curious about what that meant. Then, it hit him. From the Gem of Souls Sensei Kanoi Watanabe could feel a presence he hadn't felt in years. It was of his brother, Kiya.

 _Is this a sign?_ Kanoi thought. _Is this a part of the prophecy from the Scroll of Destiny, that Lothor will return? Did... Did Kiya really become the new Lothor?_

He sighed. _Well, I can feel this thing has great power. It is already bringing the Spirits of evil ones long past to this very area. There is only one place I can think to take it: the Mountain of Lost Ninjas._

The Mountain of Lost Ninjas was a place in the main plane on Earth. It was a place known to be a gateway to the Afterlife for those who had strong ties to their Ninja Spirit. Kanoi figured that if he placed the Gem of Souls there, that any dark Spirits which would congregate around the Gem could be thwarted by the Spirits of Ninjas who had already passed on to the other side.

 _And then no one will be able to abuse its power._ Kanoi thought. _And if Kiya... Lothor is involved in all of this, then I certainly cannot have him get his hands on it. The end game between he and I is soon coming, and I need to make sure that he does not win. The forces of good must triumph, or all will be lost..._

. . .

"Thank you both for the new employee!" Lothor stated happily. "Though keep your eyes on him. I don't trust him..."

"Will do, Lothor," Nekros replied.

"Now, to talk about your futures..." Lothor said.

"Well, we're going to become full fledged members of the Armada," Sirena said.

"Hmm... I've been thinking about that," Lothor said. "And, although Mavro and Xelleb may seem like good at their jobs, you have to realize that in the end, I plan on backstabbing them."

"And what? You want us to help you?" Nekros asked.

"You _did_ say earlier that you trust me, right?" Lothor said.

"Yeah, but... Mavro is powerful," Sirena said, skeptical of what Lothor was saying.

"And so am I," Lothor declared. "Listen... just trust me, okay? You see, I've been doing my homework and I learned something. Earth has its own branch of Alphabet Soup."

"What!?" Nekros said, angry. "How!?"

"I don't know how the Humans learned of it, but they have their own branch. Now, if we can take _their_ Alphabet Soup, then maybe we can overpower Mavro..." Lothor said. "And then Dark Specter."

"Interesting," Sirena said. "How?"

"Well, it may take some time, but together I'm sure we can come up with a plan," Lothor said. "You in?"

Nekros nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Sirena smiled. "As long as I'm on the winning team, I'm happy."

"Perfect," Lothor stated. "Watch out Earth! We're gonna be coming for you! And nothing will stop us!"


	24. 1992: Alphabet Soup Part One

**1992: Alphabet Soup Part One**

 ** _1992 AD - Universe M54331Z-B_**

The four year old girl walked into the room. She saw several kids all around her, playing and talking. She was already feeling out of place, fearing she wouldn't make any friends.

"Hoi," A young girl said, a thick accent akin to the New Zealand area heard on her voice. "Moi name's Mora. What's your name?"

The girl swallowed hard, nervous to speak. "My... my name's Rose. Rose Ortiz. I'm new."

"Oh, well you'll _love_ it here!" Mora said happily. She then paused and shoved her doll into Rose's face. "And you'll need to know her, too. This is Susie Sunshine. She's my best friend!"

Rose paused for a moment. "Um... hello, Rose. Nice to... meet you?"

Mora stopped for a moment, as if she was trying to listen to Susie. "She says it's noice to meet you, too. Now come on! I'll show you around!"

Sighing, Rose followed her energetic tour guide. She could see children all about, playing and tinkering with different things. Rose recognized some of the "toys", or at least she _thought_ she did. Some of them looked like weapons she saw on the latest episode of Star Trek she'd seen.

 _Weird..._ Rose thought as Mora suddenly stopped.

"This girl here is named Taylor." Mora said, pointing at Taylor Earhardt. "Her mum works here on the base. She's a member of the Aviator club. You don't wonna ply with dem. They're rude."

Taylor groaned. "I'm not rude. You just can't be in the club because _you don't want to be an aviator_!"

"See!? Rude!" Mora said, sneering.

"What's the problem here?" A boy looking a little younger than the twelve year old Taylor asked, coming over.

Taylor couldn't help but smile. "You've gone and done it now..."

"Um... um..." Mora stammered as the boy came over.

He gave her a warm smile, placing his hand on Mora's shoulder. "Mora, right? Okay, listen... I won't tell my dad that you were harassing Taylor if you just leave us alone, got it?"

"Y... yes, Marcus!" Mora said, turning around and walking away, grabbing Rose by the hand and dragging her away with her.

"What was _that_ about?" Rose asked, more curious than upset.

"That was Marcus Truman, the Colonel's son." Mora said, rolling her eyes no longer afraid since they weren't in earshot. "He is a pampered boy who thinks he can get anything he wants because his dad runs everything here. Whatever, we don't need _them_."

Rose, the hyper intelligent girl that she was, began looking around. "Mora... are there a lot of cliches here?"

"Oh, it's _terrible,_ " Mora said. "Like over there? That's the Royal Flush Gang."

"What's up with them?" Rose asked.

"Well, they are the oldest kids here," Mora said. "They're supposed to be transfered to Angel Grove High in California soon."

"Why so far away?" Rose asked. "California is far from Colorado for some kids to go to high school..."

"I guess they haven't told you yet," Mora observed. "Angel Grove is ground zero for Alphabet Soup."

"That's the program I was just put in, right? All of this here is a part of it?" Rose asked. "They didn't tell me much. They just paid my parents a lot of money, and they told me I'd be a part of this program..."

"Yup. All of this is Alphabet Soup." Mora stated, moving Susie Sunshine's arms to point around. "Just recently the program's center in Angel Grove was deemed to be fully operational. They're recruiting kids from all around the United States to be a part of it, due to the different gifts they have, like us. The Royal Flush Gang are going to be sent there, too, because of their age."

"Why are they called the... 'Royal Flush Gang'?" Rose asked, not able to take her eyes off them. Something about them seemed _off_ to her.

"It has to do with how they were code-named," Mora explained. "Once you turn fourteen here, you start getting these _super secret_ meeting invitations to go to the main lab area. Rumors say that they do experiments on the older kids there to get them ready to find their _true potential_."

Rose gasped. "Experiments!? We gotta get out of here!"

"Good luck," Mora stated. "You only get to see your parents on the weekends, and it's monitored. The last kid who was here, a boy named Eugene Sku- Sku-something... Well, he was a musical genius but he tried to tell his parents about the experiments. They Neuralized him and his parents and he was kicked out. They even messed with his head and made him _stu-pid_."

"That's awful!" Rose said. "There has to be something we can do!"

"There's really nothing. They know all of our abilities and our weaknesses," Mora stated.

"What abilities are you talking about!?" Rose demanded, getting scared.

"Well, the reason you were picked to be a part of Alphabet Soup," Mora said simply. "Like me? I can make moi drawings dance on paper. They think I could make them jump _off the page_ with enough training!"

"Is this a joke!?" The genius four year old shouted.

Everyone stopped, stunned at Rose's outburst. They stared at her for a while, unsure of what the problem was. As they did, a young boy stepped forward. It was Nick Russell, the boy formerly known as Bowen before he was taken in by the government after Phineas rescued him from the Mystic Realm.

"Are you okay?" The five year old boy asked. "Do you need some help?"

Rose began crying. "I want to go home!"

Mora rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a _baby_. We all wonna go home. We're stuck here. Tough luck..."

"Is this some sort of joke?" A member of the Royal Flush Gang, Jack, said. "Just ignore the baby, everyone. She'll get used to it."

As he said that, someone else walked forward from the group. It was a young boy by the codename of Wind Dragon. He belonged to a club of older teens who called themselves the Ultimen.

"Leave the girl alone, Jack." Wind Dragon said, frowning in anger.

"Or _what_?" The leader of the Royal Flush Gang, King, asked.

"Or we'll have to settle this the old fashioned way..." One of the Ultimen named Shifter said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Just me, sister... you don't wanna go there." Said Queen, winking at Shifter.

Shifter's twin brother, Downpour, curled his lip in anger. "Is that a _threat_!?"

"What, are you gonna wet your pants if she _did_ , pasty?" Ten asked, laughing.

"Nah... I think he'll more likely _flood_ you rather than wet his own pants." Juice retorted, giving Downpour a high five.

"Don't make me sic Ace on you..." King threatened.

Suddenly, everyone got serious. Stepping forward from behind King was Ace. It was the little girl Future: Omega Ranger had seen in a previous file mentally attacking several soldiers, as an experiment by Dr. Levoy of Bio-Lab.

"What's happening?" Rose asked Mora. "Why did everyone get so quiet?"

"That's Ace..." Mora said, clutching Susie Sunshine tightly. "She has strong mind powers. The people who run this facility keep some sort of headband on to protect themselves from her... she's _very_ dangerous..."

As More said that, the final member of the Ultimen, Long Shadow, stepped forward, hands out before him as if he were doing a signal for peace. Rose noted the look of worry on his face.

"There's no need to go that far..." Long Shadow said. "We were just trying to stick up for the little girl."

Ace looked at Long Shadow, a glazed look on her face. "Show me the girl..."

"But-" Long Shadow started.

" _Now_." Ace said, furrowing her brow gently.

Long Shadow staggered back. Whenever Ace showed any bit of emotion, everyone knew to be _very_ careful around her. Long Shadow turned to Wind Dragon, hoping he would have an answer for their predicament.

"Please..." Rose squeaked to Mora. "Don't let her get me..."

Mora furrowed her brow. "Okay... um..."

Pulling a couple of crayons out of her pocket, Mora dropped on the hard lineoleum began to draw. Within moments, a fuzzy looking ball with razor sharp teeth and stick arms was drawn on the floor.

"Please... please make this work..." Mora said, crossing her fingers.

Rose gasped in shock as the drawing began to glow with Purple Psychic Energy. As it did, Mora fell to a knee, concentrating harder than she ever had.

"Ace... please don't do th-" Downpour started. Before he could finish, he fell to his back, blood dripping down his nose.

"I'll let him go once I see the girl..." Ace said.

"Downpour!" Shifter yelled, dropping down to crouch next to her dying twin.

"That's it!" Wind Dragon screamed. He pointed his arms at Ace and shot two mini tornados from his hands.

"Back off!" King screamed, plasma ball firing at the tornados from his own hands.

Right then, the monster Mora had drawn glowed and popped out of the floor, landing in between the two factions. Everyone in the room screamed as the Monster came to life.

"I... I did it, Susie!" Mora yelled out happily.

"Attack!" Queen screamed, telepathically lifting up several chairs in the room and chucking them at Mora's Monster.

"Metal Bending won't help us here!" Ten said, cracking his neck. He then got down into a three point football lineman stance before rushing at the beast from Mora's imagination.

As they grappled each other, Jack shot out his arms toward Shifter. His arms grew longer and longer, becoming elastic as they stretched to wrap around the twin worried about Downpour.

"I don't think so!" Juice shouted, shooting electricity from his own hands and zapping Jack.

"What's going on!?" Marcus Truman screamed, standing still next to Taylor. "Where are the guards!?"

Taylor nodded. "They should have been here by now..."

"Um... you have _me_ to thank for that," Someone said from the shadows.

"Huh?" Marcus exclaimed, turning around to see where the familiar sounding voice came from. "No... it can't be..."

"Terry!?" Taylor asked happily, almost jumping up and down wanting to clap.

"Shh!" The figure in pure black said, leaping from the shadows toward the fight ensuing. "That's a _secret_."

"Stop talking," The voice in his cowl ordered. "Get to work."

"Sheesh, calm down!" Terry said, standing in a Batman suit that was pure black with a red bat symbol on it. "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!"

"Remember..." The voice in his cowl, Bruce Wayne, said. "These are the people who plucked you from your home and are doing the same to kids all around the world. We have to save these kids _now_."

As Terry, the new hero known as Batman Beyond, threw several batarangs at Mora's creation, flew through the air, he sighed. "I don't know why Bill Mitchell couldn't have just erased them _all_ from the system, like he did for me."

"Because it would be impossible to cover his tracks if he did that, Terry," Bruce said, humoring his protege. "Now _get to work_!"

Landing next to Wind Dragon, Batman Beyond tossed several small orbs at King. King chuckled when they rolled to his feet, but before he could react they exploded and threw him onto his back.

"I see the Royal Toilet Flushers are still... _pleasant,_ " Batman Beyond said, laughing.

"Terry!?" Wind Dragon exclaimed, turning and hugging him. "Dude! When you disappeared from that training facility I thought I'd never see you again! Wow! You're _Batman_!?"

"The one and only!" Beyond said, laughing.

"Excuse me?" Bruce said.

"I mean... um... the new and improved!"

"Really?" Bruce countered, cocking an eyebrow.

"Umm... anyway, where'd the monster come from? He sure is giving Ten a run for his money..." Beyond asked.

Downpour shook his head, finally free to stand up. He had a massive headache. As he stood, Shifter put her shoulder under his to help him balance.

"I don't know, man..." Downpour said. "But I'm sure glad to see you..."

Batman Beyond then turned to Long Shadow, who was helping wrangle the younger prisoners of Alphabet Soup into a corner away from the fight. Batman Beyond couldn't help but smile, seeing that these people hadn't yet been corrupted by Alphabet Soup.

"Long Shadow!" Batman yelled. "Make with the biggie, biggie!"

"Huh?" Bruce asked.

"You'll see..." Batman Beyond said, smirking.

"I can't!" Long Shadow protested. "They'll find my family and do bad things to them! They told me to never grow unless they told me to."

"Trust me!" Batman Beyond screamed. "Everything will be okay!"

"Okay... okay I trust you!" Long Shadow said, beginning to concentrate.

Rose Ortiz gasped as she stood next to Mora and Susie Sunshine. Long Shadow began to grow... and grow... and grow! Soon, his head was hitting the ceiling causing it to crack and break due to his growth.

"Whoa..." Batman Beyond said. "He sure has gotten stronger..."

"So have we." Downpour said, smiling. She then turned into water and blasted forward, hitting King as he battled with Wind Dragon anew.

"Rhino!" Shifter yelled, becoming a massive white rhino. He then charged forward, right at Jack.

"Ride 'em cowboy!" Jack yelled, jumping up and wrapping his arms several times around Shifter as he straddled her back. "Woo-hoo!"

"Take care of the kids," Bruce suddenly said. "I have the monster taken care of."

"Huh?" Batman Beyond asked. "But... how?"

"Just trust me. Go!" Bruce ordered.

"Fine, fine..." Batman Beyond said, turning and beginning to usher the kids out of the room out the door.

As he did, leading the way out to the hall, he found several guard with guns trained on him. Batman Beyond shook his head and sighed.

"Really? I thought I took care of you lot already..." Batman Beyond said. Getting into a fighting stance, he looked back to the kids. "Stand back!"

Rose was frightened. _Why am I here!? I have no powers! I'm just really smart! This is so not fair!_

As Batman Beyond leapt forward to fight the guards, Nick Russell frowned. _I have to help!_

Stepping forward, he pointed a hand at one of the guards. A massive burst of Magic erupted from his hand and hit the guard square in the chest.

"Huh!?" Batman Beyond cried out, kicking a guard in the head. "Did _you_ do that!?"

Nick nodded slowly. "Did... did I do something bad?"

"No, no!" Batman Beyond said, dodging a punch as he felt several bullets hit his armored suit. "Keep it up! All of you! Use your powers!"

Marcus frowned, looking to Taylor. "We gotta get out of here and get my dad. He can help us get out of here."

Taylor paused for a moment. _But... if I leave, me and my family will be free of this place. If I don't, though... then I will get the training I need to become an Air Force pilot. Then I can prove that I really_ _did_ _see the Animarium..._

"Okay. Let's sneak out and find your dad." Taylor said, slipping out of the group and following Marcus.

Mora furrowed her brow. "I don't know if I can make another monster to help that bat person..."

Rose sighed. "It's okay! I... you did a lot for me, Mora. Thank you so much. You're a good friend..."

"Friend?" Mora asked, shocked. "I've never had a friend before... everyone always called me _strange_..."

Rose smiled. "I thought Susie was your friend."

Mora stopped, looking down at Susie Sunshine, then smiled. "You're right! How could I forget!? You and Rose are my best friends for life!"

Back in the room, Ace sighed. "No more games... I've seen enough."

Massive amounts of Psychic Energy erupted from her, attacking the Monster Mora left behind. Within a matter of moments, it vanished.

"Huh!?" Long Shadow stammered. He was about to reach down and punch the beast, standing tall at eleven feet.

"Fools," Ace stated. She then blasted everyone in the room, excluding her Royal Flush Gang. "I was only curious to see how you all fought. You're all pathetic, not even able to take down a Psychic Illusion a little girl conjured."

"Uh-oh..." Queen stated, smiling. "I think you all are in trouble!"

"How could you all be trying to escape?" Ace asked. "Idiots! The government has given us such _power_! How can you reject it like that!? Aren't you curious to find your potential!?"

"I want my freedom!" Wind Dragon yelled.

"Fine. You shall have it, then." Ace said, he eyes glowing with a fierce Purple color. "You shall have it... in _death_!"

All the while, Batman Beyond ducked and dodged, weaving through the battle while Magic, fire, and who knows what else bounced through the coridoor at the soldiers around him from the kids trying to escape Alphabet Soup. Within a matter of minutes, the soldiers were incapacitated.

"Wow!" Batman Beyond exclaimed. "Nice job everyone!"

Turning around, he suddenly stopped. There was a lone young man standing between them and the exit. He looked to be about twelve years old, but his face showed that he had seen a lot in his short lifespan.

"Hey!" Batman Beyond said happily. "Come on, man! Let's head out to freedom!"

Just like we practiced... The voice of the Demon, Diabolico, said in the boy's mind.

"Freedom?" The boy, Ryan Mitchell, asked. He was apart of the Armada's secret Alphabet Soup. "You want your freedom?"

"Terry!?" Bruce shouted. "There's something very wrong! There's a large energy spike of unknown source coming from that boy. Get those kids out of there _now_!"

"Hey, dude..." Batman Beyond said slowly, inching toward Ryan. "Let's just slip out of here and talk, okay?"

"This is the best the government has to offer?" Ryan said, shaking his head. "This is their Alphabet Soup? Ridiculous. Vrak and Vekar won't even need to come down. I can handle this by myself."

Ryan got into a fighting stance. Black Energy, the portion of the Emotional Spectrum correlated to Death, danced off of him. He smirked before lunging full speed at Batman Beyond, hoping to end his life in one hit.

Meanwhile, outside the base, a young twelve year old girl with pink hair walked up to the receptionist. She smiled.

"Hi, little girl," The receptionist said. "Are you here to see your parent?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I'm here to see what your Alphabet Soup has to offer."

The woman furrowed her brow. "You're with Alphabet Soup!? How did you get out here!? What is your name!?"

Suddenly, a staff appeared in her hand. "I'm Astronema."

She then pointed the staff at the woman, shooting her with a blast of Red Energy, the energy of Rage. The woman flew back off her chair, hitting the wall behind her and dropping to the ground. Astronema smiled, hoping she had ended the woman's life.

"Good job, Astronema!" Ecliptor said, walking into the room and beaming at Dark Specter's star pupil from the United Alliance of Evil's Alphabet Soup. "Now let us find out where Earth is keeping their Alphabet Soup. They will pay for defying Dark Specter with their mockery of our organization!"

Meanwhile, deep in the sewers beneath the facility, Nekros and Sirena (from Lothor's secret Alphabet Soup) waded through the filthy water. They were very unhappy.

"I cannot _believe_ Lothor's plan involved the sewer!" Sirena complained.

Nekros nodded in agreement. "Yeah, this stinks... literally. But on the bright side, it's a good thing Lothor saw that Batman guy attacking the guards on the perimeter and placing that signal blocker. Had he not, we would have had to deal with him first and ruin the covert nature of our mission..."

"Whatever," Sirena sneered. "The sooner we get out of this poop pond, the better."

Unseen by them, or anyone else breaking into the facility, were secret mini cameras. Each of them showed what was happening in the facility. Each of them were sourced back to one man: General of the Army Rex, the man pulling the strings for Earth's Alphabet Soup.

 _Excellent._ Rex thought. _Everything is happening exactly as I planned it. Let Bruce Wayne know when the guards would have a hole in their defense... leak to Dark Specter that Earth had an Alphabet Soup... Coax Xelleb and Mavro into showing their Alphabet Soup was stronger than Dark Specter's by letting them see Astronema would be here with only Ecliptor... and have it happen all on the same day Lothor was going to attack my base anyway. Perfect. Now it is time to prove once and for all that_ _my_ _Alphabet Soup is the strongest! Will there be casualties? Most definitely, but it's the price I must pay, the eggs I must break for my wonderful, wonderful omelet. And after today, I will be able to start my final preparations... to take the Greatest Treasure in the Universe!_


	25. 1992: Alphabet Soup Part Two

**1992:** **Alphabet Soup** **Part Two**

 _ **1992 AD - Universe M54331Z-B**_

Astronema laughed as she created a force field around both herself and Ecliptor. Bullets from the guards who had assembled themselves were flying through the air. The soldiers were apprehensive at first about attacking a young preteen girl, but remembering the things they had seen from the other kids in Alphabet Soup, they realized that it was either them or her.

"I will not intervene." Ecliptor said as he stood behind Astronema. "Dark Spector wants to see what you are capable of against the other kids from Alphabet Soup. These are your testing grounds."

Astronema smirked. "And I'm gonna pass with flying colors!"

"Ahh!" Several soldiers screamed as she blasted them with a beam of Red Energy from her staff.

"Let's continue." Ecliptor said, clutching his sword nervously.

The Undead Cyborg Ecliptor looked around, hoping to cover Astronema if the occasion were to arise. Over the past seven years he had been with the young girl after being assigned as her bodyguard, Ecliptor had begun to feel a kinship to her. He wasn't programmed to feel emotions of loyalty to anyone except Dark Spector, yet the loyalty he felt for Astronema seemed to be even deeper than normal loyalty. He knew not that the Violet portion of Love of the Emotional Spectrum was helping this bond happen. He knew not that it was due to who he had been before being being turned into a Cyborg: King David of the Nathadian Universe. Astronema was filling a hole in his heart left behind by losing his family because of the deeds of Queen Bansheera.

"Do you _smell_ that...?" Astronema said.

"Um... no. My nose is non-functional..." Ecliptor stated almost sadly.

Suddenly Nekros and Sirena burst out from a room, having been going through the sewer system to get into the military base undetected. As fate would have it, unfortunately for them, they happened to be leaving climbing their way out of the bathroom and leaving it at the same time that Astronema and Ecliptor had come by.

"Sirena!?" Astronema gasped, recognizing the Senior Class President from the Evil Alien School she went to. "What are you doing here!? Nekros!?"

Sirena smirked, summoning her giant hammer from her ship in orbit into her hand. She gave Nekros a look as if to say, "I guess we start now, huh?"

"Listen, Astronema..." Sirena began. "You're a cute girl and all. Normally I wouldn't anything against you, but you're kind of our competition..."

"So that means we're going to have to crush that pretty little head of yours." Nekros concluded simply, his hand already aflame with the Black Energy of Death.

"You... you're from Earth's Alphabet Soup!?" Astronema gasped.

Sirena gave Nekros a look. They were in fact a lot more complicated than that. Although they had been brought into Emperor Mavro's Armada to be a part of his secret Alphabet Soup, along with his sons Vrak and Vekar, the man helping the Armada known as Lothor had recruited the twins to be his own pupils. Creating a separate branch of Alphabet Soup within the Armada, run secretly by him, Lothor hoped to have the twins Nekros and Sirena help pave the way for him to find more Potentials, to help him become the ruler of the universe.

A few years earlier, the main scientist for the United Alliance of Evil (the Alpha Shapeshifter known as Deviot, who had become a Cyborg later in life) had discovered an algorithm showing the prime candidate for the prophesied leader of Alphabet Soup who would tip the scales between good and evil would be a person whose Animal Spirit would match that person's own species (i.e. a Human would have a Human Animal Spirit, or a Lion with a Lion Animal Spirit, and so on), an equal connection to each portion of the Emotional Spectrum, and a strong connection to the Morphing Grid. After this information was leaked to other factions of evil, Mavro, Lothor, and somehow the Human General of the Army named Rex had gotten a hold of this info and had begun to create their own Alphabet Soup programs, in hopes of creating a race to see who would find the prophesied leader.

"Let's just say we're from Alphabet Soup." Nekros stated simply, shooting a blast of Black Energy at Astronema.

Astronema focused and put out her hand, blocking the Black Energy with the White Energy of Life. Although many of those in Alphabet Soup were powerful, not all of them were Potentials (those who fit the description of the chosen leader to tip the scales between good and evil). Astronema was, in fact, a Potential. With her balanced connection to the Emotional Spectrum, as long as she focused she wouldn't have any problems deflecting any of the blasts from the Spectrum by using its opposite.

Sirena picked up on what Astronema had just done. "Together, Nekros!"

Astronema clenched her jaw as both White and Black Energy Balls flew toward her from the twins. Closing her eyes, one of her hands glowed with White Energy and the other with Black. She then lifted her arms up and created a shield around her, comprised of both Energy fields. They began mixing, turning into the psuedo Grey Energy.

"What!?" Nekros cried out. "Impossible!"

"You used two different Energies simultaneously..." Ecliptor marveled. "They said it couldn't be done!"

Astronema smirked. "But they forgot something... I'm _Astronema_. I can do _anything_."

Focusing, she unleashed the Black and White Energy from her shield and watched it shockwave out to the twins. The Grey Energy hit them both, sending them flying onto their backs.

"Ahhh!" Sirena screamed as she felt the Energy permeate her, neutralizing her connection to the White Energy of the universe.

"No! No!" Nekros screamed, hands trembling as he fell to his knees, also having lost his connection to his Emotional Spectrum tap.

"What sort of power _is_ that!?" Ecliptor gasped.

"I... I don't know..." Astronema stated, shocked herself.

From withing the Hall of Legends, the Future: Omega Ranger made a note. He was the Power Ranger in the year 2050 who had been tasked by Anubis "Doggie" Cruger to index several pieces of history into a catalogue, or archive. Omega Ranger remembered as he typed in his Chrono Workstation how Nobodies (a species created when a person's Heart is ripped from their body through Magic) used the psuedo Emotional Spectrum Energy, Grey. He found it interesting that Astronema, not a Nobody, had been able to artificially create that Energy. Remembering how Xelleb, the Alpha Nobody and wife to Emperor Mavro, had a plan to create an army of Nobodies if she ever was able to amass enough Grey Energy, Future: Omega Ranger wondered if Astronema would ever be able to play a part in her plans.

"Shall I end them?" Ecliptor asked, pointing the tip of his blade at the fallen twins.

Astronema smirked. "No... I want them to live on, knowing they once had great power but are now _nothing_."

Walking by the two fallen fighters, Astronema stepped on Sirena's hand with her high heeled boot and kicked Nekros in the face with her other leg. She and Ecliptor then progressed with their journey to end Earth's Alphabet Soup.

As they left, Nekros and Sirena suddenly felt a power surge around them. Before they knew it, they were teleported up to their spaceship in orbit around Earth. They both fell in a heap in the main room of the ship.

"Did you send us back up?" Nekros asked, touching the swollen part of his face where Astronema had kicked him.

"No... It wasn't me..." Sirena said, gasping for breath.

"It was _me_ , you dummies." Lothor's voice was heard saying over the intercom. "Now, I have no idea how Dark Spector found out about this, but you two dolts are obviously no match for a Potential like Astronema."

"But-" Nekros began.

"Just shut up," Lothor interrupted. "I am very disappointed in the both of you. Now, if you want to have any future in Lothor Industries you're gonna have to hit the practice room _hard_."

"News flash, Lothor: We have no powers anymore, Sirena stated glumly. "Astronema did something to nullify them."

Lothor laughed. "Oh, you're so stupid. No, your powers aren't gone, they're just _blocked_. Come back to Lothor Industries. We'll work on getting you both back up and running, okay? I still have plans for you two, got it?"

Nekros chuckled. "What other choice do we have?"

"That's the spirit!" Lothor's voice was heard saying over the audio system. "Now, I'm having Zurgane fly your ship back home via remote. Get some rest... you'll need it."

Back at Lothor Industries itself, Lothor turned around as he finished speaking with Nekros and Sirena. He looked over and saw his humble assistant from almost two hundred years prior standing before him: Zurgane. Recently Lothor, who had been spying on his old rival Vexacus, found Zurgane also tailing Zurgane. Lothor intercepted Zurgane and found out that ever since Vexacus had stolen the Gem of Souls from Zurgane thousands of years earlier that he had never stopped tracking Vexacus in hopes of getting the Gem back. It had taken quite a bit of convincing, but Zurgane had finally become convinced that in Kiya Watanabe's body was, in fact, Lothor (Zurgane had become convinced when Lothor had revealed he knew that in Zurgane's head was a sort of insect that seemed to be controlling Zurgane's body, though Lothor was still unsure if Zurgane himself was the insect and the whole body was just a robot or not. Zurgane was convinced, since the only person to know that would have to be Lothor, who he revealed that to right before Lothor had been imprisoned).

"Zurgane, my friend..." Lothor said. "I have an assignment for you."

"Sir yes sir, Lothor!" Zurgane said, saluting Lothor by crossing his arm across his chest.

"Good, good. I like the energy!" Lothor said. "Guide Nekros and Sirena back to Lothor Industries. Get some pods ready for me and hook them up to that big machine over there, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Zurgane said. "If you don't mind me asking... why, sir?"

"I'm going to put those two on ice... literally," Lothor said. "They'll need some time to build their powers back up, so I'm going to put them in a cryostatic sleep. The machine will let them out as soon as their tap to the Emotional Spectrum is completely reestablished. Just don't tell them, though. If they knew I was going to put them to sleep they'll probably try to escape."

"You value you them very much, sir," Zurgane observed.

"Oh, yes..." Lothor said, smiling. "I have _big_ plans for them..."

. . .

Ryan Mitchell jumped up, kicking Batman Beyond in the head and causing him to fall onto his back. The kick was charge with plenty of Black Energy. Ever since Xelleb had forced Diabolico to kidnap Ryan and train him up to be a member of Alphabet Soup, Diabolico had done just that. Ryan had been taught in the ways of the Demon, being pumped full of otherworldly Black Energy on a daily basis through meditation in Diabolico's presence and Diabolico pumping the Black Energy into the young boy.

"Terry!?" Bruce Wayne yelled out, sitting in his Batcave watching things through Batman Beyond's eyes via cameras in his cowl. "Are you okay!? Your vitals are dropping!"

"I'm... I'll be fine." Batman Beyond stated, pulling himself up.

Ryan watched as Batman Beyond suddenly threw several batarangs at him. He leapt over the first two, but the rest were right on target, hitting him and exploding on target.

"You sure got over fighting a _kid_ quickly," Bruce mused.

"Yeah, well..." Batman Beyond began. "I have other kids here needing my help."

Behind him was a large group of kids, all from Alphabet Soup. He had rushed into the facility that day to try and rescue them. Unbeknownst to him, he and Bruce had been baited to be there that day by GA Rex himself, Rex hoping to test his Alphabet Soup against the other forces in the universe threatening to thwart his own carefully laid out plans.

"Yah!" Ryan screamed as he fell, unleashing a massive ball of Black Energy at Batman.

"No!" Nick Russell, a young boy and son of the Wizard Leanbow and Witch Udonna, yelled.

"Huh!?" Batman Beyond gasped as suddenly a blast of White Energy hit the Black Energy ball.

"This is what I came for..." Ryan said, chuckling as he got into a fighting stance. "Another Potential! Bring it on!"

The five year old boy was shaking in fear. Before him was what looked like an adult to the small child's perspective. Ryan was a full seven years older than Nick, which for a kid was lightyears. He then looked at Batman, on a knee and breathing hard.

"Yah!" Nick screamed, unleashing a bolt of Red Magic from him right at Ryan.

"Ahhh!" Ryan screamed, caught offguard. He had never seen Red Magic before, and had no idea how to block it.

"C'mon, diaper boy!" Ryan sneered, standing up. "Is that all you got!?"

"I... I don't know..." Nick said. His eyes then brightened as he smiled. "Let's find out!"

Several orbs of Red Magic were suddenly appearing around Nick, being tossed at Ryan like they were launched from a gatling gun. Ryan caused a shield of Black Energy to be projected before him. Although it was straining him, he was successfully blocking the Magic based attacks.

Rose Ortiz, a young girl who was four years old and having her first (and very bizarre) day being at Alphabet Soup, suddenly felt something _click_ in her mind. It was as if suddenly a whole world had been opened up to her that she never knew was there before, and she couldn't explain it.

 _That boy's Black Energy is deflecting the_ _Red Magic_ _, but if another force such as Red Energy was added onto it, the shield would surely fall!_ Rose thought. _Wait... how did I know that!?_

Rose turned to Mora, the girl she had just befriended that day. "Mora!? Do you know anyone who can use... um... _Red Energy_?"

"Let me think..." Mora said in her thick New Zealander accent.

A blonde boy, about eleven years of age, stepped forward and raised a hand. "I can."

"Oh, thank you Hunter!" Mora shouted.

Rose, still confused by her sudden intelligence in the physics of supernatural powers, turned to Hunter. "Okay, Hunter! Aim and fire at the bad guy... _now_!"

"Yah!" Hunter screamed, the Red Energy of Rage shooting out of him and at Ryan.

"No!" Ryan yelled as his shield collapsed. The Red Magic spheres from Nick then hit him, sending him flying to his back.

"Get the kids out now!" Bruce yelled as he saw Ryan fall.

"C'mon, kids!" Batman Beyond yelled, motioning for the kids to follow him.

As they ran, Batman threw a pill at Ryan. As it landed, a net charged with electricity popped out of the pill and trapped Ryan under it.

"That should hold him long enough after he wakes up..." Batman thought outloud.

"You're joking, right?" Bruce asked, incredulous due to his pupil's naivety. "I thought I trained you better..."

Right then, as Batman Beyond opened the door, he felt a blast hit him in the chest. He fell to his back, arms and legs sprawled out.

"Terry!" Bruce shouted.

"Tsk, tsk..." Astronema said, shaking her head as she stepped through the door and into the hall. "A bunch of children? Pathetic. This should be fast..."

"Dark Specter will be pleased," Ecliptor said, prideful of what Astronema was sure to do next.

Suddenly, Ryan blasted the netting off of him with Black Energy. He then pulled himself up, breathing heavily. Looking at Astronema, he sneered.

"Another?" Ryan asked. "Whatever. I'll pound you, too."

Rose swallowed hard. She looked to Mora and frowned. "What now?"

"I don't know..." Mora said.

"Now?" Hunter said, overhearing the little girls speaking. "Now we all use the powers we've been training to use! Smart kids? Make something! Everyone else? Attack!"

. . .

Ace of the Royal Flush Gang stood in the middle of the room. At her feet were the Lifeless bodies of the Ultrimen, who had tried to defend Rose from the Royal Flush Gang before Batman Beyond had come in on his rescue mission. She had allowed them to have their fun, but in the end she had enough. She attacked them mentally and ended their lives.

"Nice!" Jack said, walking over to Ace. "You did it! Now let's go take care of Terry. I mean, who does he think h- agh!"

"Ace!?" King shouted as he saw blood drip out of Ten's eyes. "What are you doing!?"

"I'm bored of all of you," Ace said, her eyes glowing with Purple Psychic Energy. "I figure that... I don't need Alphabet Soup anymore. Or any of _you_..."

Before any of them could attack her, Ace shot a blast of Psychic Energy at them all. A smile slowly crawled onto her face as she she them fall to their knees, gasping the last bits of breath they would ever breathe...

. . .

"Dad!" Marcus Truman yelled as he rushed into his father's office.

"Oh, no..." Taylor Earhardt said, seeing the room in shambles.

"Mar... Marcus...?" Colonel Mason Truman gasped, on the floor behind his desk.

"Dad!? What happened!?" Marcus yelled, running to find his dad on the ground and bleeding.

"A girl... with purple hair..." Colonel Truman gasped. "She... she came in here and attacked... she... she wants to destroy all of us... run..."

Marcus stared in disbelief. In his arms he held his father, and as he held him he felt the man who raised him draw in his last breath.

"No!" Marcus screamed. "Dad! No!"

Taylor didn't know what to say. "Marcus... I-"

"This can't be happening!" Marcus screamed. "I mean... Who's gonna take care of me and Scott!? My mom died in labor with him and... no! No! Dad, don't leave us! Please!"

"I found two of them." A SHIELD agent said as he ran into the office. "And I have a visual of Colonel Truman. He's down. I repeat: Colonel Truman is down."

Another agent walked in after the first, looking at Marcus and Taylor. "I'm so very sorry, kids. Come with us. We'll get you to safety."

"But my dad!" Marcus screamed.

"I'm sorry." The first agent said, shaking his head. "There's nothing we can do..."

Taylor looked at Marcus as the man gave him a hug. She then felt herself be taken by the hand and ushered out of the room, leaving Marcus behind.

 _What's going to happen to Marcus?_ Taylor thought. _Where are they taking me?_

"Are you taking me home?" Taylor asked, hopeful.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm taking you to a secure facility until my superiors tell me where you're heading," The agent said. "Don't worry... you're in good hands."

Taylor fought back the tears. _I... I just wanted to find the Animarium... I never asked for any of this..._

. . .

Batman Beyond watched in awe as kids ran about, scrambling and trying to fight Astronema and Ryan as those two powerhouses duked it out. It hit Batman to his very core, seeing some of the children fall in battle against the evil heir to the United Alliance of Evil.

"What am I supposed to do!?" Batman wondered angrily. "I can't just sit here!"

"Terry?" Bruce asked. "I believe in you. You can do this. You can be the deciding factor. _Go_."

"Right. You're right, Bruce," Batman said. "You've trained me for the worst the world could throw at me. I-agh!"

"Terry!" Bruce screamed. He could see Batman Beyond's brain scans and cerberal hormone count rise _drastically_.

"Ahhh!" Batman Beyond screamed, falling to his knees in pain as he gripped his head in between his hands. "Help me!"

"Poor stupid kid..." Ace said. "Thank you for bowing down before me, by the way."

"Fight it, Terry!" Bruce screamed. He began typing away at his console, trying to see if he could use the nanites flowing between Terry and the Batman suit to try and counteract Ace.

"Hey! Ace!" Someone screamed.

"Huh?" Ace said, looking up.

As she looked up, she saw one of the young kids from Alphabet Soup staring at her named Blake. He smiled as he jumped high into the air, shooting a massive blast of Red Energy at her.

"I don't think- agh!" Ace screamed. She felt a stab in her shoulder. Turning around, she saw a black bear behind her with massive wings and drills on its paws instead of claws.

"Nice one, Mora!" Blake said as he landed.

"Now!" Rose ordered, implementing the last of her plan.

"Hi-yah!" Hunter screamed, shooting Red Energy at Ace.

"Ahh!" She screamed, unable to handle the multiple attacks in succession.

"Ugh..." Batman groaned, pulling himself up.

"Terry!" Bruce yelled. "The girl and the boy fighting!"

Batman Beyond looked over and saw Ryan still battling Astronema. Although Ryan had a preference for Black Energy and Astronema for Red, the two were blasting each other with all sorts of different power combinations.

"You have to take them down if you're going to get out of there!" Bruce screamed.

"Got it!" Batman yelled. He then tossed several batarangs at them.

To his shock, they were all blocked when Ecliptor appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, swinging his sword and destroying the projectiles.

"Leave Astronema alone!" Ecliptor demanded. He then shot a blast of Black Energy at Batman.

"Agh!" Batman Beyond screamed, falling to his back.

"Terry! No!" Bruce screamed. He could see his protege's vitals dropping, his suit no longer able to protect him after all the damage it had received.

"Agh... This hurts... _a lot_..." Batman grunted, standing up.

"You're a fool to stand up again," Ecliptor yelled. He then shot another blast at Batman.

As Batman jumped to dodge it, behind Ecliptor Astronema stabbed the floor with her staff. A vertical crescent wave flew from the contact point, hitting Ryan and causing him to stagger back.

"It's not going to be that- ah!" Ryan yelled as White Magic hit him hard.

"Ahh!" Astronema screamed, flying back as she was hit as well.

The two corrupted kids turned from off their backs to see the source of the attack: Nick. He was glowing with White Magic, it lifting the young boy off the ground.

"Stop this!" Nick screamed. "Fighting is not the answer!"

"Everyone, freeze!" Several SHIELD agents screamed as they burst into hallway from the door that had been Batman's goal.

"Terry, get out _now,_ " Bruce demanded.

"But... the kids..." Batman gasped, falling to a knee as Ecliptor stopped attacking.

"There'll be other times," Bruce insisted. "If the government gets their hands on you... just trust me. Get out _now_."

Astronema was confused. She had never been so handled as she had been against Nick just a moment earlier. She wanted to retaliate, but knew that with Ryan and the new arrival of the SHIELD agents, she'd be lucky to get another shot off.

"Let's go, Ecliptor!" Astronema yelled as she teleported away.

"On your word, my queen." Ecliptor said, disappearing into the air as he seemed to step into it.

"You haven't seen the last of me..." Ryan said, teleporting back to the tomb room where the Demons' prison was via the warp tunnel Xelleb had created for him.

Batman turned and grabbed Rose and Mora, the two youngest looking kids in the room. "You're coming with- agh!"

"You're under arrest, Batman!" One of the SHIELD officers screamed.

"No, Terry! I told you to _leave,_ " Bruce screamed.

"Suit's... shutting down..." Batman Beyond tried saying to Bruce, but struggled in doing so.

Rose looked at him as he dropped them. "Get out of here... we'll be okay!"

Mora then turned to the monster who was guarding Ace's unconscious body. "Attack!"

"Yeah!" Hunter said, looking to Blake.

"Let's do it!" Blake echoed.

The SHIELD agents trained their guns on the kids. "No false moves. We've been ordered to take you all down if necessary!"

"Now!" Rose yelled.

More volleys of power launched from the kids, taking out the guards.

"Go. Now..." Rose said to Batman. "They wouldn't dare do anything to us. You, though?"

"How old are you!?" Batman Beyond managed to gasp as he limped up.

"Four," Rose answered.

Batman shook his head. "I'm not leaving a four year old here."

"I need to stay, or... or they'll do something to my parents. I'm sure of it," Rose said, remembering what Mora told her about the boy named Eugene who used to be in the program and hoping it would be enough of an excuse to get Batman to leave without her.

"You were sure willing to leave a moment ago..." Batman said as he stumbled, leaning against a wall as the battle continued behind him.

"Just go, please!" Rose said, looking at Mora as she continued to try and control the Monster she had created from a drawing to attack the SHIELD agents.

Batman looked at Mora, too. "You don't want to leave her, do you?"

"And she needs to stay to make sure you can escape. If you take her, those soldiers will overpower everyone," Rose said, calculating the battle quickly. "I'm not leaving without her."

"I... I'll be back. I promise..." Batman Beyond said as he limped back to the room where everything had started.

"I hope so..." Rose said under her breath as Batman vanished.

As Batman Beyond limped into the room, he fought back tears seeing the Lifeless bodies of the Ultrimen, who used to be his friends. He couldn't believe Ace had destroyed them all. He was further shocked to see her one time friends, the Royal Flush Gang, also among the dead.

"Agh!" Batman yelped, feeling another Psychic attack.

"You... you ruined everything!" Ace screamed, limping into the room after Batman. "I had everything I wanted here, and now it's falling apart because of _you_! And after I end you, I'm going to destroy the mind of that little girl you were talking to!"

"Leave her alone!" Batman screamed. He tried to stand, but found he couldn't.

"Say goodbye, Terry!" Ace screamed, getting ready to send a blast to his mind that would scramble it permanently.

"Get away from him!" Bruce Wayne screamed, tackling her.

"Bruce?" Batman asked, still dizzy and wondering if he was hallucinating.

"Get off me, old man!" Ace screamed, sending an attack at Bruce.

He smiled. "Not gonna work."

"Huh!?" Ace gasped. Before she could consider it further, Bruce cocked back his arm and punched Ace across the face, knocking her out once again.

"How... how did you do that!?" Batman Beyond asked, amazed.

"Did I ever tell you that after my parents were murdered that I was trained by Pai Zhua Master Swoop?" Bruce said, picking Ace up. "Well, I learned a lot of meditation techniques from him. I made my mind clear before coming here. She had no way to tear me down."

"How did you get all the way here from Gotham, anyway!?" Batman demanded.

Bruce chuckled. "I used to have a teleportation system, but it required too much power to operate after the Justice League was disbanded. I had enough juice to get me here, though."

"But... I've seen that system!" Batman said, shocked. "It's so unstable! You could've been fried!"

"Yeah, well..." Bruce said, not knowing how to answer.

Batman Beyond then smiled. "Ah... you cared about me! You risked your life to save little ol' me!? I'm touched!"

"Let's get out of here." Bruce said, motioning to the break in the wall caused by Long Shadow. "I don't know how much longer until SHIELD overtakes those kids."

"Dude! We can get them now that you're here!" Batman demanded.

Bruce cocked an eyebrow. "No... I gave all I had in just knocking _her_ out... I'll only make things worse out there. Now let's go... _now_!"

Batman sighed. He could feel his suit still crackling. His mind was nearly numb from all of Ace's attacks and he was certain he had broken bones. Begrudgingly he agreed, following Bruce out of the room to head to his car to drive the long drive back to Gotham.

"What are you gonna do about Ace?" Batman asked.

"We'll stop at a Radio Shack," Bruce said. "I think I can make a neural impeder for her, like the ones the guards here use to protect themselves from her."

"Of course... why not?" Batman Beyond said, chuckling to hide his guilt for leaving.

 _I_ _promise_ _I'll be back for you, Rose._ Batman thought. _I'll be back for_ _all_ _of you..._

. . .

General of the Army Rex sat in silence in his office. He couldn't believe that his carefully laid out plans hadn't panned out. He had hoped that he not only would have lured the other Potentials to his base, but he wanted them _eliminated_. He was happy, though, with Nick's performance against Ryan and Astronema.

"Rex, sir?" General McKnight asked.

"Yes?" Rex answered, snapping out of his stupor.

"I have finished everything you asked me to do," McKnight informed Rex. "Alphabet Soup has been moved to their new location in Angel Grove, California. Except for the boy, Nick Russell. His mind was wiped of the incident and he is going to be doing his training at his home, to keep him away from the other children."

"Excellent..." Rex said. "If he knew his potential it would be near impossible to control the little brat. Now, it's a shame we lost all of the transfers to Angel Grove High because of Ace. Do you have any candidates there now that we can still have things go well?"

"Oh, yes," McKnight said. "We have some good kids who I made sure would already be in the area by the time they would need to go into high school, to make the transition seemless for them."

"And Kaplan is aware of what I want from them?" Rex asked.

"Yes. The equipment is in place to test them and record their movements," McKnight said. "Kaplan is making sure everything will be very controlled."

"And Agent Myers?" Asked Rex.

"He has already been moved to work alongside Captain William Mitchell for Global Strike," McKnight reported.

"Good. If my predictions are correct, we'll be needing a team of Power Rangers on Earth very soon," Rex said, thinking of the information he had about how Dark Specter was planning on attacking Earth in the following year.

"Anything else, sir?" McKnight asked.

"Yes, actually. For Alphabet Soup, how many subjects do we have that are strong candidates to be enrolled into the Terra Venture project?" Rex questioned, staring at McKnight intently.

"Oh, um..." McKnight said, pulling out the folder her had under his arm. "Let us see... Scott... Kwan... Taylor... Bulkmeier... Four, sir."

"Our of the whole school!?" Rex shouted, losing his temper.

McKnight swallowed hard. Rex didn't emote often, but when he did McKnight knew things would progress fairly quickly. Unless he could defuse the situation.

"Well, sir... That's as of right now. These are preliminaries based on the people _before_ they enter the program. Things will progress once the drugs we have for them will be introduced into their systems, sir," McKnight explained.

"Right, right..." Rex said, composing himself. "My apologies. I'm stressed and need to calm myself. The incident recently set up back a few months, but I'm sure we'll be right on track soon. Thank you, McKnight. You're excused."

"Sorry, one last thing..." McKnight said. "Sir? Have my grandchildren been screened for Alphabet Soup?"

Rex sighed. He opened up the folder with the potential candidates. He looked up McKnight and found the twins on the list: Conner and Eric, both six years of age. He looked back up to General McKnight. He could see how anxious he looked. Rex knew how much McKnight wanted to have his grandkids in the program, to help contribute to the "world changing" program Alphabet Soup was touted to be.

"Eric got in," McKnight said. "Conner did not. Conner's ADHD is too strong for us to be bothered to try and teach around. Eric, though, is good enough for the preliminary program to be prepped to be sent to Angle Grove when he turns fourteen."

General McKnight nodded slowly. He was disappointed that not both of his grandkids got in, but was happy that Eric would be in. He composed himself and saluted.

"Thank you, sir," McKnight said.

"Dismissed," Rex said, watching McKnight leave.

 _Alright, Dark Specter._ Rex said. _I've been under your feet long enough! When you come here for your invasion, you'll be greatly surprised to find that Earth is_ _ready_ _for you! And then, I will take over for the United Alliance of Evil! And it all starts with the seed of my genius: Alphabet Soup!_


	26. 1993: The Eclipse

*****Author's Note - Fast forwarding a bit in time to the events surrounding the Green Ranger arc during MMPR...**

 **1993: The Eclipse**

 _ **1993 AD - Universe M54331Z-B1**_

Gabriel Grey staggered out of the lab he had just been in. He had tried as hard as he could, but in the end he couldn't stop Dr. Beckett from ruining the Quantum Leap Project. Gabriel had seen such potential in the project, let alone in the man with the intellect who created it.

 _But he threw it all_ _away_ _..._ Gabriel thought as he tried to look forward, his double vision caused by the explosion disorienting him. _Why is it that I wasn't the one gifted like him? I know I'm meant for amazing things... but where is_ _my_ _opportunity!?_

As he thought, he felt himself suddenly grabbed by the shoulders. His traumatized mind attempted to focus on the source of the arms that were grabbing him. Shaking his head, he suddenly recognized Agent Richie Mendoza.

"You _idiot_!" Richie cried out.

"... huh...?" Gabriel managed to ask in confusion.

"Had you not been in there, we could have stopped Beckett!" Richie yelled.

"...what...? No, I... I saw him... I didn't..." Gabriel stammered, trying to make sense of Richie's accusations.

"Don't lie! We know Beckett used you to distract us from seeing what he was really doing!" Accused the agent of GA Rex's forces.

As he heard that, it dawned upon Gabriel what Richie was doing. He was using Gabriel as a scapegoat. There had been no way anyone in Alphabet Soup could had known to stop Dr. Beckett from activating Quantum Leap. The only reason Gabriel had been there was because he was trying to see how the technology worked, to see if he could use some of the ideas to make his own computer system, SYLAR, come online. But, to not look as if he had been caught off-guard, Richie was blaming Gabriel to save his own position.

"...This isn't fair..." Gabriel managed to say, tears welling up in his eyes. "I... I was trying to _help_ Alphabet Soup..."

Richie, continuing on with his lie, scoffed. "The only thing from Alphabet Soup you'll be getting is a dishonorable military discharge and five to ten in _prison_."

"What!?" Gabriel gasped, suddenly sobering up from his head injury. "You can't do that! I'm just an IT guy!"

"Yeah, one being charged with _treason_." Richie said as he reached for his gun in his side holster.

"Mendoza!" Special Agent Myers yelled suddenly from the other end of the hall. "You need to get over here _now_."

"In a minute!" Richie yelled, eyes not leaving Gabriel unwatched.

"No, now! There's a massive Megazord fight going down in the mountain region. The Power Rangers are fighting Goldar, Scorpina, and they're _losing_. McKnight wants all agents on hand in case the rangers lose. We'll deal with the Beckett fiasco later. This is more pressing," Myers reported.

Sneering, Richie sighed before punching Gabriel in the gut. "Stay here if you know what's good for you..."

Gabriel felt the air flow out of him as the punch hit. He slowly fell to his knees as the tears which were already welling up in his eyes began to flow freely down his cheeks. Looking down at the cold, hard floor he could hear Richie running off to join Myers and the other special agents of Alphabet Soup.

Pulling himself up, Gabriel used the side of the hall window to lean upon to stay steady. Between the explosion Beckett had caused and Richie's devastating gut punch, he was having a very difficult time. To say the least about the rest of what he was going through: obviously losing his job and probably facing jail time for a crime he didn't do.

Sighing heavily, he looked out the window. He couldn't believe he'd lost everything. His parents hadn't approved of his career choice, and he'd wanted so badly for them to accept him eventually after finding out how much he helped the government. And after the recent debacle, he knew he'd never be seen by them as "special".

"Are you okay?" A young woman asked Gabriel.

Turning around, he saw one of the new interns at the facility standing behind him. She was very pretty, and not the type of person who Gabriel felt usually spoke to him. He knew he must've looked a wreck, with scratched lenses on his glasses, disheveled hair, and a tear streaked face. Like most people in his life, he knew she pitied him.

Looking down sadly, he shook his head. "No... I'm not okay... not at all..."

"Is there something I can- Oh, my goodness! What's that!?" She gasped.

Furrowing his brow, Gabriel slowly turned to follow her gaze out the window. He, too, gasped as he saw the spectacle. The sun floating up in the sky was suddenly being eclipsed by the Moon. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what could be causing such a phenomenon. There were no eclipses which were supposed to occur in that time of year, so for one to suddenly happen meant something was altering the Moon's normal rotation. Judging by the fact he didn't see any tsunamis coming upon Angel Grove due to any change in tidal waves and the sheer speed of the upcoming eclipse, he correctly guessed it was a Magical event caused by the Moon's newest occupant, Rita Repulsa. After hearing how the Power Rangers were pinned down by the duo of Goldar and Scorpina, Gabriel felt his stomach in knots. He began to wonder if being court marshalled would be the least of his worries. He began to fear that the evil space aliens were about to conquer the planet.

"Ah!" The intern gasped, falling to her knees.

Gabriel turned to see what was causing the young girl pain. "Are you okay? What's- ah!"

Suddenly, the same pain the girl was feeling began pumping through Gabriel's nervous system. His brain felt as if it was on fire. His vision was suddenly as blurry as it was _without_ glasses. His consciousness then suddenly shifted momentarily to be a sort of out of body experience. Quickly, though, he felt anchored once again. He stood up, still with blurry vision and a headache. He quickly took off his glasses, shocked to find out he was seeing better than he had in _years_. Unfortunately, the phantom pains of his migraine lingered. It nagged at him, as if he'd had it for many, many years. It was a background pain that he felt was going to be slowly increasing.

"Do you feel that?" The girl asked, looking around. "I... Is it that eclipse?"

Gabriel cocked his head to the side, giving her a questioning look. "What do you mean? I don't feel anything but a headache..."

"No... it's like... a _force_ or something... I..." She said, slowly lifting up her hand. As she did, suddenly a chair next to Gabriel flew up and hit the ceiling.

"Huh!?" Gabriel gasped.

The young woman furrowed her brow at that. "I... I did that... That was _me_?"

"You... are you a subject of Alphabet Soup?" Gabriel asked, wondering if her special abilities are what brought her to Rex's "special" project.

She shook her head. "No... I'm a transfer from Oklahoma... I have no abilities."

"Are you sure? It looks like you _do,_ " Gabriel stated, curiosity growing stronger. "What's your name?"

"Lisa." The woman stated, pursing her lips.

"Okay, Lisa..." Gabriel started, suddenly feeling extremely curious to know what Lisa was going through. "See if you can move my fallen glasses up to my face."

"What!?" Lisa asked, outraged at such a suggestion.

The curiosity was nearly consuming Gabriel as he looked at her, a sort of hunger etched on his face. "Yes... just... _move_ it. Let's see..."

"O... okay..." She stated. As quickly as she said it, Gabriel felt the glasses land nimbly on the bridge of his nose.

Gabriel smiled. "That's _amazing_! I _must_ know, though... _how_ are you doing that!?"

Lisa shrugged. "I... I don't know! I really think that it's that _eclipse_."

Face suddenly losing the excitement it had, Gabriel looked at her with frustration. "What!? The _eclipse_!? Why!?"

"I... I don't know?" Lisa answered, confused.

"It's not _fair_!" Gabriel shouted, his head beginning to pound. "This was supposed to be my opportunity to _shine_! To be someone _special_. And what happens!? Fate gives you telekinesis and what does she give to _me_!? A _migraine_!? Why!? _Why_!?"

"Sir, please... I'm sure there's a-" Lisa started.

"No! No, no, no!" Gabriel yelled.

"Listen! I don't even _want_ this! I'm a _freak_ now! I wish this _hadn't_ happened to me!" Lisa screamed.

Gabriel paused, his mind suddenly easing back on the pain. "What? You're not a _freak_. You're _special_. How could you not want this!? You... you're _broken_. How can I _fix_ you?"

"What!? _Fix_ me?" Lisa gasped, taking a step back.

Gabriel nodded slowly. As he looked at her, he could suddenly understand her. He could understand her potential. What made her _special_. He realized suddenly that was his gift. But then the curiosity swept over him. It wasn't enough just to understand her potential. He wanted to understand _how her ability worked_. His head slowly began to hurt again, increasing to a pain unfelt before. And with his new gift, he could understand that pain. What it meant. It was his _instinct_ , his new curiosity that came with the ability to understand how things worked. How they fit together. He needed to know _more_. To know _exactly_ how things worked. How Lisa's _ability_ worked. And with his ability to understand how things worked, he knew what he had to do to satisfy his new _hunger_ for knowledge.

Before Lisa knew what was happening, Gabriel leapt forward. Falling to the floor with her, he found himself straddling her stomach. Without even thinking, he began swinging his fists. He could feel the impact of his bones hit her skull. Flesh pounding on flesh. Blood, mostly not his own, was splattering everywhere. And the only people around were him and his victim.

Suddenly, he stopped. He stared down at the deceased girl lying beneath him. Looking down at his hands, Gabriel shrieked in agony. His hands began to tremble.

"What... what... what have I done!?" He yelled, leaping off of her in horror. "How could I do this!?"

Standing over her body, he felt a panic attack coming on. It felt as if he was trapped in a nightmare he knew he couldn't escape. Once again, he felt as if his life was over. He couldn't think of a way out. He had committed _murder_.

 _But it wasn't my fault!_ He told himself. _I... I wasn't in control! It was like an instinct or something!_

Staring down at Lisa, he suddenly felt the headache return. Even though she had expired, it was almost as if he could hear the woman's brain pulsing in her head. The new gift the eclipse had given him, to know how things worked, was instinctively telling him what he had to do. Gabriel felt as if he was to throw up when he felt the inclination settle upon him. It was as if he was _hungry_ for the knowledge of how Lisa's telekinesis worked. A part of him wanted to know more badly than any other desire he had ever had in his life. The other part of him thought of himself as a monster for even entertaining what his body wanted him to do.

"I... I must fight this..." Gabriel gasped, hands still shaking.

 _Isn't this what we wanted, though?_ He heard himself say in his own mind. _Of all things... to be special? We saw her potential... what she could be._ _We_ _could be like that. That potential could be ours. And then we'd finally be_ _special_ _..._

For what felt like a million eternities, Gabriel stood and stared at the body of Lisa, the intern. It hurt him to know that she would no longer laugh. No longer cry. No longer be a light to her family, of which he was sure that she was. He took her from the world far too early.

 _No reason to let that go to waste..._ He heard himself urge again. _Besides, there's no one around. We have all the Time we need... to finally be_ _special_ _..._

"I've lost everything..." Gabe said outloud. "Perhaps this is fate... giving me a chance to finally get everything I deserve..."

And, with his decision made, Gabriel walked forward to see what made Lisa tick...

. . .

Standing while looking out a window of Angel Grove University, the nurse known as Peter Petrelli stared out at the sky. As he did, he could see blasts and sparks going off in the distance past some mountains. He knew a Megazord battle had begun and that once again the Power Rangers were attempting to protect Angel Grove from wicked space aliens.

 _How do they do it? Day in and day out... they must devote their entire lives to this! They must be some sort of military trained personnel who eat, drink, and sleep crime fighting. Sounds_ _exhausting_ _, yet... I dunno. They're probably getting more fulfilment than I am right now..._

As he thought that, a stab of guilt hit him hard. He knew he wasn't wasting his time as a nurse. It was a noble profession, going out everyday to save lives. To make a difference that actually mattered. That was the reason he had become a nurse to begin with: not as many student debts as doctors get, but still get to help people in the healthcare environment.

But something inside Peter kept telling him that it wasn't enough. That there was something else out there for him to do. He hadn't yet figured out what that mysterious calling of his may be, but he figured if he kept doing good things that eventually karma would help him find his way.

As he stared off, lost in thought, his eye caught a glimpse of some movement in the sky. Focusing, he was shocked to see an eclipse beginning. The eclipse Rita Repulsa had started so she could cut off the solar power to the Megazord.

For whatever reason he couldn't comprehend, he stared longingly at the eclipse. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Tears of joy fell down from his eyes as he watched the event unfold. He could feel a tingling sensation as it happened, spreading through his entire body. It hurt a bit, but something inside him told him that it would be just fine.

Letting out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided, Peter suddenly heard shouting down the hall. He knew not whether the screams had been going on the entire time he had been watching the eclipse and he was just so caught up in its glory that he didn't hear it, or if they had just started. Either way, he rushed to the scene to see what was happening. What he saw shocked him.

"Mr. Sprague!? Please calm down!" One of the doctors cried out.

"No! I want to know what is happening to me!" The man screamed as he looked down at his body, which was aflame.

"Impossible..." Peter heard himself saying.

"Freeze!" A police officer yelled, rushing onto the scene. "Er... literally, I guess..."

"Officer Parkman! Please do something!" Another doctor cried out, cowering in the corner with Fear.

Peter looked to the officer. He thought about how he looked like he was scared stiff, of which thing he was. Peter knew that he, too, was afraid and was wishing he or _anyone_ there knew what to do to stop the man who looked as if he was about to explode.

"I'm _not_ scared stiff." Officer Parkman suddenly stated, looking at Peter. "I'm sure we'll figure something out..."

 _What!? Did he just read my mind!?_ Peter thought, shocked.

"Please, sir! I can't concentrate!" Parkman complained to Peter. "Keep it down! Actually... all of you! Please stop whispering and let me focus."

Peter furrowed his brow as Parkman kept his gun trained on Sprague. Outside of a couple of outbursts, everyone but Sprague was silent. Peter had then come to the conclusion that Parkman was definitely reading people's thoughts.

"Sir? I know you're scared but-" Officer Matt Parkman started.

What made him stop was that, although he was staring at Sprague and saw that his mouth was not moving, he could still hear him think. Right then, Parkman realized that it was true: he could hear people's thoughts, but he knew not why. As the stream of information flew in, Parkman nodded slowly.

"You're... you're right. If you accidentally hurt someone here, your wife would be _very_ disappointed," Parkman stated. "So let's just calm down now, shall we?"

With a look of confusion, Sprague slowly nodded. "I want to, but I don't know how to stop it..."

As he said that, a burst of flames erupted from him. Suddenly his whole body look like an anthropomorphic flame. He wasn't in any pain, but everyone around him was beginning to feel the heat dance off his person. They were all getting worried, and Parkman could hear it.

"Everyone just calm down!" Parkman screamed. "We'll figure this out! He's not doing this on purpose!"

Peter then saw it happen. A burst of flame hit Parkman with enough back draft to send him flying back. As he flew through the air, his gun fell from his hand. Before anyone could react, a doctor reached down, grabbed the gun, and shot Sprague several times. As the last bullet entered the Exploding Man, he fell to his knees. With his last breath, Sprague looked at everyone around him before falling onto his face. He had died, and as he did, so did the flames dancing off him.

"I... I had to... He was going to blow the whole place to the sky..." The doctor stated, as pale as a sheet.

Meanwhile, Peter rushed to help Parkman up. "Hey, buddy... are you- agh!"

Parkman, standing upright by that point, looked at Peter in confusion. "Are... are you okay?"

Peter fell to his knees, grabbing his ears. "Make it stop! Ah! It's all flooding in!"

"What!?" Parkman demanded, confused.

"Their voices! The thoughts! Why is this happening to me!? I can hear them all! Help me!" Peter screamed as blood began to pour down his nose, the thoughts of everyone around him overwhelming him.

. . .

Claire Bennet made her way to the Youth Center. She knew that things were bad and everyone had evacuated, but the fight had gone to the outskirts of the city and probably wouldn't come back any time soon. She had left her backpack in the Youth Center and needed to get it before she went back home. Once she knew the fight had moved out of the city, and after the eclipse had distracted everyone, she had slipped out of the center for evacuations and had made her way to get her things.

As she crept in, she noticed how dark everything looked. Sighing, she shrugged and ventured into the darkness. As she made her way into the Juice Bar portion of the Youth Center, she could see broken plates and glasses everywhere, the remnants of the chaos which had occurred upon everyone hearing about Goldar's attack on the downtown area.

Then, something caused Claire to freeze in her tracks. She heard footsteps coming from down in the matted area. Turning the corner sharply, she saw a man who looked homeless with a pile of bags that had been left behind. He was looking through them all very carefully, taking things he thought looked valuable. As fate would have it, he was rummaging through Claire's bag when she saw him.

"Hey!" The captain of the cheerleading squad yelled out. "That's my bag!"

Shocked and scared, the man did the one thing that came to his mind: he pulled out his gun, pointed, and shot without even looking. Opening his eyes, his sight was filled with the image of a young cheerleader about ten feet away from him on the top of the stairs to the Juice Bar. A hole was in her chest and blood was pouring out from it. A look of terror and shock were etched on her face before she fell back, gasping her last breath.

Terrified, especially at the fact that he had shot what was essentially to him a "kid", he rushed over to the Juice Bar. Spotting Ernie's telephone, he pulled it up and dialed the police.

"911, state your emergency."

"Um... girl... blonde hair... cheerleader. She was shot in the chest at the Youth Center. Send help fast!"

"Okay sir, they are being dispatched. What is your na-?"

Before she could say another word, the homeless man hung up. Hands shaking, he pocketed his gun and ran out of the building, leaving Claire on the floor, lying lifeless in a pool of her own blood.

. . .

 _ **2050 AD - The Hall of Legends**_

Future: Omega Ranger watched from the Hall of Legends in the year 2050 as the Time Force Cameras he was using to chronicle the events of the past prompted him to look at two Japanese individuals in the midst of the evacuation center in Angel Grove. As he did, as was done several times before, the Chrono Workstation translated their speech so that Sam could understand it...

. . .

 _ **1993 AD - Universe M54331Z-B1**_

"Ugh..." The first man said, sitting on a bench next to a very large lady. "She's nearly sitting on my lap, Hiro! I think she's going to crush me!"

The other man, Hiro, turned and smiled at his friend. "Calm down, Ando. You mustn't be rude!"

"I'm sick of that, Hiro!" Ando yelled, jumping off the bench and turning to look at his friend in the midst of all of those who were evacuated. "That's how we got into this mess in the first place!"

Hiro, confused, stood up and put an arm around Ando. "What are you talking about? Why are you so frustrated?"

"Are you _serious_!? We were not even supposed to _be_ in the United States! This was supposed to be our _vacation time_!" Ando yelled in frustration.

"No, no. Li had this assignment, but he said he was feeling sick so I volunteered to have us take his place so that he didn't need to travel sick," Hiro stated naively.

"Hiro! How many times do I have to tell you that he was _lying_! He just didn't want to go on this trip to survey the American branch!" Ando shouted.

Smiling, Hiro shrugged. "Maybe, but if he wasn't I don't think I could live with myself knowing I made a sick man work. It's better that we did things this way. Just in case he _was_ sick."

Almost in tears, Ando sat back down (making sure to sit where Hiro had been so he wouldn't have to sit next to the large lady). "You're hopeless, Hiro. Hopeless! And because of that, we're stuck here in a land where giant Monsters appear and fight giant war machines! It's like the Americans are trying to copy our TV shows, _but in real life_!"

As Ando spoke, darkness began to creep into the building. Rushing to a window with many other people, Hiro saw the miraculous eclipse begin that Rita had started. Just as had happened with the others who felt the change, Hiro could feel the pain swelling in him. His whole body felt like little pinpricks were stabbing him. His head was dizzy, swimming, but once it passed, he was feeling better.

"Hiro...?" Ando asked. "Are you okay?"

Hiro nodded. "I'll be fine. Just a weird eclipse. I think I stared at it too long and it gave me a headache!"

"C'mon, then. Let's see if we can get out of here," Ando stated.

Hiro nodded. As they began to walk, Hiro noticed a commotion begin in a corner of the room. Many people were shouting and gasping very loudly. Curious, Hiro motioned for Ando to follow him.

"What _now_ , Hiro!?" Ando complained. "I want to _leave_."

Approaching the group, Hiro and Ando saw what the commotion was all about. A man with shoulder length, scraggly hair had grabbed what looked like toothpaste and had begun smearing it on the wall. It looked like he also had other colored creams, from where Ando was certain he was fine not knowing where the man had gotten them. It looked as if he was painting something. Looking at it, although he was using crude materials, one could see how talented the man was. The image of what appeared to be a girl in a cheerleader uniform could be made out. A second person, a man in black clothes, was behind her. He was reaching out as if to grab her.

Then, suddenly, The Artist spun around and pointed at Hiro. Everyone gasped as he did. The Artist's eyes were bright white. No pupils could be seen. He looked as if he were possessed. Ando began tugging at Hiro's arm at that instant, trying to pull Hiro away.

"You. Hiro Nakamura," The man stated. "Save the cheerleader, save the world."

In broken English, Hiro responded. "I... I do not unduh-stand."

"Save the cheerleader, save the world," The man reiterated.

As he did, a young woman was ushered near him by two guards. "Ma'am, you know him?"

She broke free from them and ran to The Artist. "Isaac! Oh, Honey, what are you doing!? I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Suddenly, his eyes became normal again. Looking around in confusion, he saw the mural he had painted. Looking then down at his hands and clothes, he gasped.

"What's going on here!? The last thing I remember was watching the eclipse, and then all of a sudden... I'm here. Did I paint this!?" Isaac asked, in sincere shock.

As people began to huddle around him and speak to him, Hiro and Ando slipped away. The normally jovial look on Hiro's face was gone. Instead was a look of determination as he began to march out of the place.

"Hiro!? Where are you going!?" Ando cried out.

"The eclipse. It gave him a power," Hiro stated solemnly. "I think it gave me one, too."

"Huh!? What are you talking about!? You sound stupid, Hiro." Ando said, marching behind his friend.

"I couldn't describe it until Mr. Isaac said it, but I now know what it is. The eclipse gave me a power, and Mr. Isaac told me how I'm supposed to use it. I'm supposed to save the cheerleader," Hiro stated matter of factly.

"What. Are. You. Talking about!?" Ando demanded. "That was a crazy man saying crazy man things! You have no powers!"

"I do. I just don't know what they are." Hiro said as he continued to walk to the front door.

"Hiro, it was an _eclipse_! How does the Moon blocking the Sun have anything to do with giving you powers!?" Ando tried rationalizing to Hiro.

Hiro shrugged. "I live in a world where a giant blue dog in gold armor tried to crush a city until five people in leotards summoned their giant dinosaurs that came together to make a big metal man. I don't think asking questions at this point is the wisest thing."

"And... and even if you had powers, Hiro, do you remember the Superhero Registration Act!? You'd be hunted down!" Ando said as a last resort. "I think it'd be best if you and me just head on back to our bench. I'll even sit next to the big lady again!"

Right then, Hiro made it to the door. Unfortunately for him, a very big man with very big muscles and a very big gun were blocking the way. Smiling politely, Hiro bowed to the man as a sign of respect.

"Heh-ro. I am Hiro Nakamura. I am on the mission of the to save the cheer-reader," Hiro stated in broken English.

"Say what?" The man replied, confused.

Ando sighed and stepped in. "He is trying to say that he needs to leave here so we can... get back to work."

"No can do. The curfew hasn't been lifted yet. Sorry."

Hiro's face turned into a giant pout. "No sorry! I go _now_!"

"Don't make me get _hostile_." The man warned, narrowing his gaze at Hiro and Ando.

"I am a hero named Hiro! It is my _destiny_!" Hiro yelled, running at the man in hopes his new power was super speed or super strength.

"Hiro, no!" Ando cried out.

Sighing heavily, the man reached out and grabbed the oncoming Hiro by the back of his jacket collar. He then, with his other hand, grabbed Ando and lifted him up off the ground as well.

"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Ando protested, kicking and swinging.

"Punishment by association. I'm gonna handcuff you two to that pole over there until I can get you two downtown to book you for disrupting the peace." The officer stated, carrying the two away while missing completely Claire Bennet as she used the distraction to be able to slip out of the building to find her bag.

"What mean 'book you'!?" Hiro asked Ando in Japanese.

"He's going to arrest us!" Ando replied. "Hiro!? If you have a power, use it _now_!"

Closing his eyes and scrunching his face, Hiro began to concentrate as hard as he could. As he did, his head began to shake, making his cheeks wobble as he shook. Ando watched, hoping against hope Hiro was right, as Hiro's face grew beet red.

Stopping, Hiro sighed. "Nothing. Ando, I am sorry... I- huh?"

Looking around, Hiro saw what he deemed to be the impossible. Everyone around him was stuck in place, unmoving. Not one iota of anything he could see was moving.

"I... I stopped Time?" Hiro asked himself, confused. "I stopped Time! I did it! Ando, I- Oh, yes, you too. Okay, um..."

Hiro grabbed Ando, wrestling the officer's sausage fingers off of Ando's collar, and put him on his own shoulders. Grunting and wheezing, Hiro carried Ando outside of the building. Figuring himself to be safe when he was about two blocks away, Hiro closed his eyes and concentrated, just as he had done before. As he finished, he opened his eyes to find Ando looking around in shock.

"Yata!" Hiro cried out (which meant something along the lines of "I did it" in Japanese).

"Wh... what!? How did we get here!?" Ando gasped.

"I stopped Time, Ando!" Hiro yelled out in celebration. "I stopped Time and got us both out of there! I'm a Super Hiro!"

Ando's eyes grew wide. "I... I don't believe it! Now what do we do!?"

Getting a solemn look about him once again, Hiro nodded. "We have a mission, Ando. Save the cheerleader, save the world. Let's go, Ando. We have a cheerleader to save."

. . .

Matt Parkman sat at the police station. Next to him was a friend of his named Officer Stone, taking notes of the report.

"... and that's what happened, Jerome. Every last bit of it." Parkman stated, looking at Officer Stone.

Stone sighed. "Matt... you're lucky I'm not a lieutenant or anything. Otherwise I'd probably be forced to take your badge."

Matt rolled his eyes. "What, for telling the truth!?"

"Matt, it sounds _insane,_ " Stone tried to tell his friend.

"Insane!? You know what sounds _insane_!? The fact that right now a group of superheroes called the Power Rangers is fighting a Monster in a giant metal machine. The fact that there's apparently a psycho Witch who _lives on the Moon_. The fact I just saw a man on fire in front of me who didn't burn! _The fact that I can read minds_!"

Stone sighed. "Then what am I thinking right now, Matt?"

"I... I dunno," He answered. "It seems to come and go. I can't control it."

"And what about that nurse? The one with the headache?" Stone asked.

Shrugging, Parkman said, "I dunno. It sounded like he could hear the voices, too, but he was rushed off to be treated. I didn't get a chance to question him. I didn't even catch his name."

"Matt? If you want to keep your job, change the story. At least omit the parts where you can read minds. Please... for you own good." Jerome Stone said as he stood up, leaving Matt in the room by himself.

Parkman sighed. He didn't know what to do. He knew that he wasn't ready to lose his job, though. Sneering when he realized what the only thing he could do was to keep his job, he grabbed the paper he had filled out. He scrunched it up and threw it in the receptacle next to him. Grabbing a fresh sheet off of Stone's desk, he began to re-file his report, without the information about his super power.

. . .

"Are you okay now, Petrelli?" The doctor asked, shining a light in Peter's eyes.

Nodding and wiping hair off his brow, Peter smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine."

 _He doesn't_ _look_ _fine,_ Peter heard the doctor think. _But we're overbooked right now with patients, injured from Goldar's attack. I need all hands on deck regardless of whether or not they're totally fine._

Pursing his lips, but not wanting to cause a Witch hunt for the man who could read minds, Peter shrugged. "Can I get back to work, then?"

The doctor nodded. "Yeah. I need you in the ED."

"But I was in the geriatric wing ton-"

"I need you in the ED. A lot of people there are hurt badly by the Monster attack. Hurry, please."

Turning and rushing out the door, Peter made his way quickly down three flights of stairs until he was at the Emergency Department. Getting depressed by the sheer amount of people there, he began to look for the attending physician to be able to see where he was needed. Before he could, though, several paramedics rushed in with Claire Bennet on the gurney. Peter could see the gunshot wound on her chest. He was surprised she wasn't already counted among the deceased.

"We need help here!" The first paramedic yelled out. "When we got there she was flatlined, but then she gasped for breath when we were putting her in a body bag. She's been going from flatline to living more times than a yo-yo goes up and down!"

Peter rushed over to the girl and began checking for vitals. As he grabbed her wrist and looked at her face, he suddenly felt lightheaded. He didn't think of himself as a particularly squeamish person, so he attributed it to seeing a pediatric patient for the first time in such a harsh situation.

"Pulse is weak... no _really_ strong... wait, what is going on here!?" Peter asked, looking at the paramedics in confusion.

The rest of Claire's stay there was a flash. The bullet was taken from her chest, her vitals were stabilized, and she seemed to be nearly completely recovered in less than an hour's time. Needless to say, everyone was calling it a miracle. Some local news reporter had even gotten wind of it (probably through some shady doctor calling in to get a paycheck under the table) and had done a story about it, calling Claire the "Miracle Girl".

"What do you think, Peter? Do you believe in miracles?" An orderly asked him as they were washing their hands in the washroom next to the trauma bay Claire was in.

 _I sure do... especially after what I just saw..._ Peter heard the woman think.

Smirking, Peter nodded. "I think I do. I really think I do."

. . .

Agent Noah Bennet, alongside his partner simply known as The Haitian, burst in through the doors of the hospital. They had been on call at the main center for Alphabet Soup, but as soon the news about Claire's condition had been made known to him the two were excused and rushed to the hospital.

"How!?" Noah cried out as they walked. "How could this have happened!? McKnight made sure to round up everyone who were out of their houses! How did she end up here at the hospital!?"

The Haitian smiled. "It could be worse... she could be dead, Noah."

"Oh, please don't say that. That is the _last_ thing I want to hear right now!" Noah said, exasperated, as they tried to find a directory to get to the room they knew Claire had been set up in.

As they did, they passed Hiro and Ando who were looking around as well. Ando sighed as they walked.

"Are you sure about this?" Ando asked.

Hiro nodded. "Mr. Isaac said that to save the world we needed to save the cheerleader. We are already falling behind, Ando! The news said someone already shot her today! We have to be here to make sure no one else gets to her!"

Meanwhile, another person had gotten wind of Claire and her extraordinary recovery. It was none other than Gabriel Grey. And he had already made his way to the wing in which Claire was sleeping.

 _Perfect._ Gabriel thought. _This is absolutely perfect. The cheerleader must've been affected by the eclipse just like me. Just like Linda... Lisa... whatever her name was. And just like with her, I'm going to find this girl and take her ability from her. I'm going to be invincible!_

As Gabriel thought that, he knew not that the one place he believed he could plan things out and not be heard was actually no longer safe. He knew not that in that very same wing, Peter Petrelli was getting some papers ready for the next shift. And that Peter had heard everything Gabriel had thought.

 _Someone is here to hurt that cheerleader girl!?_ Peter thought in shock. _And that's how this all happened...? It's because of that eclipse? It gave me this power to read minds, like that cop? Maybe that's what happened to Mr. Sprague, too... Maybe we all had some sort of dormant gene that was activated by the eclipse? I... I don't know... But I do know one thing. I have to stop whoever said that from getting to Claire Bennet!_

Making his way quickly, but quietly, out of his room Peter found himself in the hall. It was fairly deserted, with not many people in the hospital in that part where they were recovering. Many more people were in the hospital that day being treated for their injuries. That actually worked in Peter's favor, since he could zero in on Gabriel's thoughts. Everytime he did, though, he felt cold. As if every thought coming from Gabriel was pure evil.

 _Room 2203... 2203... Ah._ _Found_ _you..._ Gabriel was heard thinking in Peter's mind.

"No... no..." Peter muttered as he began to run toward the room.

He was about fifteen rooms away when he had started to chase after the mysterious assailant. Then only ten... five... with each room he passed, it was as if Peter could hear a clock ticking quickly in the background. Every moment he wasn't in Claire's room was a moment Gabriel could be doing horrible things to the girl.

"Stop!" Peter yelled, bursting in through the door. "What in the...!?"

Peter stared, slack jawed, at the scene. At one end of the room was Gabriel in a hooded sweater (hood up) and jeans. He had his right hand outstretched, pointing his index finger and middle finger simultaneously at the other side of the room. At that side of the room was Claire, floating in the air above her bed, struggling and unable to utter a sound.

Gabriel furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side. "You came rushing in here... as if you _knew_... _how_...?"

Peter began to read Gabriel's thoughts. As he did, he couldn't exactly hear any discernible words. More like Gabriel's mind working. He could feel Gabriel's mind emanating from him and reaching out to him. He could "see" in his own mind what Gabriel was seeing: how Peter worked. He could "see" his own mind with the ability to read thoughts. There was also something else there, something both Gabriel and Peter could not understand.

"What... what are you!?" Gabriel shouted in shock.

"...help... me..." Claire managed to gasp from Gabriel's telepathic vice grip on her throat.

"Stay away from her!" Peter yelled, grabbing a scalpel near him before rushing forward to stab Gabriel.

Suddenly smiling, Gabriel shook his head and lifted up his left hand. "I don't think so."

Peter suddenly felt himself being flung off his feet. He then could feel himself slam into the wall next to him, still in midair. He realized Gabriel was telekinetic, using his mind to be able to literally push Peter around.

Smirking, Gabriel said, "I'll be more than happy to take your powers after I'm done with Miracle Girl over here..."

"Let her go!" Peter screamed.

As he did, he suddenly felt his voice grow more powerful. It flew out of him and hit Gabriel.

"Yes... I think I will..." Gabriel said as he began to lower Claire.

"Huh? How did I-?" Peter asked in shock.

Then, as if to physically shake the thought out of him, Gabriel shook his head and lifted Claire back up. "You... you can use your telepathic powers to _control_ people!? Oh, how I wish I could use that, but I can't have you around right now. You're too dangerous."

Peter then watched as Gabriel used his power on the scalpel he had dropped. As it was lifted up in the air, Peter screamed and yelled. He tried to control Gabriel like he had before, but he couldn't seem to tap that part of his abilities again. Looking around, seeing Gabriel smiling wickedly and Claire floating in the air, groaning for help, Peter tried to break free from Gabriel's grip. But, before he could move again, the scalpel flew and lodged itself right in between Peter's eyes. A trail of blood dripped down from the contact point where the blade was sticking out of his forehead. Peter floated against the wall, lifeless, a glassy stare where he once had a look of determination. Claire tried to yell and scream but couldn't, tears streaming down her face for the fate of her would be hero.

A few moments earlier, down the hall, Noah stopped as he heard Peter's shouts of anger. "... Do you...?"

"Hurry!" The Haitian yelled, running down the hall in the lead and pulling his gun out.

Noah, grabbing his gun as well, began to run down the hallway as fast as he could. His stomach was in knots. Knowing someone had shot his princess earlier that day, and then hearing someone shouting for help in the same wing his daughter was at was not very confidence boosting for him.

As he thougth those things, The Haitian kicked open the door. Making it there just a moment later, both Noah and The Haitian gasped as they saw Peter Petrelli's corpse on the ground in front of the door. Further on into the room stood Gabriel Grey, moving his hand slowly from left to right. As he moved his hand, The Haitian and Noah could see a line of blood appearing on Claire's forehead. Gabriel was using his telekinesis to saw through Claire's skull.

"No!" Noah screamed, unloading his gun into Gabriel.

As he did so, Gabriel put up a hand and stopped the bullets, midair, with a wicked smile on his face. Dropping his gun, The Haitian pulled out a knife and began to charge forward toward Gabriel. As he got closer to Gabriel, both Claire and the bullets which had been suspended in midair suddenly fell from the air and hard onto the floor.

Free of Gabriel's grip, Claire yelled. "Daddy! Help!"

Breaking free of his stupor of having seen a mortal man stop bullets midair, Noah began to run toward Claire. "I'm coming, Claire-Bear!"

" _You_!" Gabriel cried out as The Haitian made his way to him.

Gabriel put out his hands to stop The Haitian from stabbing his. He put both of his hands on the wrist of the hand holding the blade. Gabriel felt himself pushed up against the wall behind him as The Haitian tried to outmuscle him. Gabriel's mind was in a panic.

"No! This isn't fair!" Gabriel screamed. " _You_! It's _you_. I had my powers and now... nothing! You took them from me!"

"What is he talking about!?" Noah yelled as he bent over Claire.

"I do not know, Noah, I- oof!" The Haitian cried out as Gabriel kicked him in between the legs.

Gabriel sneered as The Haitian staggered back. Clenching his fist, he swung it. For the first time in his life, Gabriel Grey punched a man in the face. The Haitian went flying back, dropping his knife and falling atop Peter Petrelli's corpse. He was knocked out cold.

Smiling devilishly, Gabriel turned to Noah as he tried to help Claire stand. Due to The Haitian being knocked out, he could feel his powers come back to him. He lifted up his right hand and swatted Noah away, sending him flying to the wall adjacent to the door into the room.

"Claire! No!" Noah cried out.

"Daddy!" Claire screamed as she felt herself once again get ripped up off the floor.

"And now, Miracle Girl..." Gabriel said, lifting up his left hand. "I'm going to finish opening up your head."

"... please... don't do this..." Claire implored.

"Oh, but I _must,_ " Gabriel stated. "You are going to make me the most special person ever..."

"What do you want from us!?" Noah demanded, crying as he couldn't break free. "Who are you!?"

Gabriel was about to answer by saying his name. Then he stopped for a moment. He wanted to be special, something he never felt he was in his life. The name Gabriel Grey had so many negative connotations for him. He was ready to be someone new. Some _thing_ new. His mind then landed on the one thing he was proud of in his life: the computer program he had made to help Alphabet Soup.

"... Sylar... My name is Sylar."

"Stop this! Let her go! Just take me!" Noah begged.

"You? You're not _special_. She _is_." Sylar stated, turning to look at Claire. "And I'll let you live long enough to see just how special she _is_."

"... please... let me go..." Claire begged as Sylar caused Noah to be unable to speak.

"Oh, I will. As soon as I'm d-" Sylar began.

Suddenly, everyone in the room had stopped cold in their tracks. Walking slowly into the room, Hiro looked around. Finally having found Claire's room, he had heard the commotion from outside and had thought it safer to freeze Time first, ask questions later. Walking in, he saw Sylar about to finish opening up Claire's head. He saw The Haitian knocked out on the ground, and under him the deceased Peter Petrelli.

"So much horror..." Hiro said sadly, shaking his head. "Thus is the life of a hero..."

Walking up to Sylar, he frowned. "And you must be the villain. My mortal enemy! A boogeyman... But it ends here, boogeyman!"

Turning around, he grabbed the knife The Haitian had dropped. He then turned around and pointed the knife in Sylar's direction. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward to stab him. A mere inch away from his throat, Hiro sighed and stopped.

"This is no good," Hiro stated. "I can't just stab you when you're defensless!"

"Who says I'm defenseless?" Sylar asked, turning and looking at Hiro.

"Hiro!?" Ando asked, peaking into the room.

 _Oh no!_ Hiro thought. _I guess I don't have total control over my powers yet! I wasted my chance!_

Lifting Hiro up, Sylar looked at him straight in the eyes. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, little man, but I'm going to fin- ah!"

A loud gunshot was heard. Dropping both Hiro and Claire due to lack of focus, Sylar looked down to see a gunshot wound in his shoulder. A second gunshot was fired then, landing the bullet straight into Sylar's gut. Looking up, Sylar saw Ando with The Haitian's gun. The barrel was still smoking.

"No one hurts my friend." Ando said as he shot a third time, hitting Sylar again in the stomach.

Mind reeling, Sylar turned and jumped out the window. Flying through the air, barely conscious, Sylar used his telekinesis to float himself into the back of a truck in the parking lot a few hundred feet away. As he landed safely in the bed of the truck, Sylar slid himself under a tarp to keep himself safe.

 _My time is yet to come..._ Sylar thought. _This is only the first of my rise to the top!_

Hiro, Claire, and Ando rushed to the window. They all had one thing in mind: seeing Sylar's body on the concrete below. They all let out disappointed groans when they didn't see him, though deep down inside they each knew that they hadn't yet bested him.

"Thank you..." Claire said, tears coming down her face. "You saved me..."

"Save the cheerleader, save the world!" Ando stated, fully accepting the statement for the first time.

"Excuse me?" Claire asked.

"Mr. Isaac told us to save you! And we did it! Yata!" Hiro said proudly, throwing his arms up in the air.

Limping forward, Noah made his way to Claire and grabbed her in his arms. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, Claire-Bear. Please forgive me!"

"You _were_ , Dad! You _were_!" Claire insisted, tears dropping onto her father's blazer.

"Noah?" The Haitian asked, getting up and rubbing his head. "Did we get him?"

Noah looked to Claire. She looked down sadly and shook her head. Noah then turned to his long time friend and gave him a dark look.

"No, we didn't. But we _will_..."

As he spoke, Claire left her father's embrace and made her way to Peter. Noah tried to stop her, but The Haitian shook his head as if to suggest Claire needed to say goodbye to her would be hero while making his way to stand next to Noah. Kneeling by Peter's side, Claire began to sob.

"I... I remember you!" Claire said in between heavy sobs. "You were the nurse who first came to me when I got here! You were there during my surgery! I'm _so_ sorry this happened to you! You... you just were trying to help me!"

As she sobbed, the final stages of the process which had been occurring for the past few minutes was completing itself. Claire and everyone else in the room gasped as the scalpel plopped out of Peter's head, leaving a small gash in between his eyes. Then, right before their eyes, the wound vanished. As it did, Peter let out a gasp for air.

"What...!?" Claire gasped, jumping to her feet and rushing back to her father.

As she did, Noah and The Haitian gave each other knowing looks. They, too, were shocked at what they were seeing. A man had miraculously come back from the dead, right before their very eyes. They knew that Alphabet Soup would be very interested in knowing about that.

"Alphabet Soup?" Peter asked, inadvertently reading their thoughts. "What is that? What do they want with me?"

Noah's eyes grew wide, looking to The Haitian in shock. They then looked back to Peter, worried about what was happening.

"You... you're okay!" Peter said suddenly, looking at Claire. "I'm so glad! I was worried..."

Claire smiled. "Thanks to you. If you hadn't stalled him, who knows what he would've done to me... But... how are you alive!?"

"I don't know... I'm very, very confused." Peter stated, looking up at those before him.

"Hiro..." Ando said in Japanese. "He's a Zombie!"

Hiro nodded slowly. "Perhaps. We need to look further into this. We can't let him eat the cheerleader's brain if he is. Mr. Isaac said we needed to save the cheerleader."

"And we did that!" Ando stated.

"This time. What about the next? And the next? Who knows how many times her life will be in danger," Hiro said. "Ando? You can go if you must, but as for me? I will stay by her side and keep her safe."

Ando stood and thought for a moment before smiling and putting his hand on Hiro's shoulder. "You're my best friend, Hiro Nakamura. Wherever you go, so will I."

As all of that occurred, Matt Parkman suddenly made his way into the room with another police officer. "Freeze! Everyone! Drop the gun!"

Ando, suddenly realizing he was still holding the gun, dropped it and threw his arms into the air. "I'm innocent man!"

"I will stop Time to get us out of here!" Hiro shouted.

He tried to concentrate, but found he could not. His thoughts were muddled every time he attempted to stop Time. Flustered, not knowing The Haitian was inadvertently blocking his powers, Hiro shrugged.

"I think I'm broken..." Hiro stated sadly.

"We had reports of gunshots and- _you_." Parkman said, laying eyes on Peter. "What's going on here!?"

"That's what _I'd_ like to know..." Noah said as he looked to his partner.

"Okay, you've all got some talking to do. Who's gonna start?" Parkman demanded, keeping his gun trained on Ando.

Furrowing his brow, Hiro Nakamura was the first to step forward. "My name is... Hiro Nakamura. I come from Japan. And I am a superhero."


	27. 1993: Justice League - Reborn

***Author's Note - Well, this is it! This story is being continued in a book I am not yet finished with, but I will be adding on occasion to here what I have already done.**

 **As for the main story, after this we're going to be diving full on into MMPR. The first MMPR book will have a lot of scenes directly from the episodes but with revelations about what was _actually_ going on. Book Two will be a lot more focused on the events surrounding the episodes but not much from the episode itself. Thank you all for reading and have a great New Year weekend!**

 **1993: Justice League - Reborn**

 _ **1993 AD - Universe M54331Z-B1**_

Noah Bennet, agent of Alphabet Soup, sat in a waiting cell. He knew not that General McKnight was too busy to release him, his partner known as The Haitian, or his daughter from this situation. McKnight's tasks with getting his newest task force, Global Strike, up and running blinded him to his other memos and notices. Noah was going to be stuck at the station being interrogated by Officer Matt Parkman for a while.

Sitting in the cell with him was a host of characters that normally wouldn't have had anything to do one with the other. To Noah's right was a nurse named Peter. Normally there wouldn't be anything special about him, save for one thing: his last name was Petrelli. Noah found it curious that the sequence of events that culminated in the hospital brought in the brother of an up and coming United States Senator. Even though he was a Freshman in the senate, the rumor mill had already been spouting out tidbits of a potential run at the White House. What spiced things up even more were Senator Petrelli's ties with Alphabet Soup, more specifically General of the Army Rex. Coincidence or fate, Noah knew not. In the end it was something Noah decided to keep tucked into the back of his mind. What else made Peter "interesting" in Noah's mind was something he had witnessed himself: the man came back from the dead.

Having had a scalpel "embedded" into his skull, he was for all intents and purposes deceased. Yet, a few moments after having expired Peter found himself alive once again, standing up before those who were in the room with him. Then, to make him even more "interesting", he seemed to be able to pick out things about Noah. Things that Noah was _thinking_ about.

Sitting on a bench across from Noah were two Japanese gentlemen. One was named Hiro, the other Ando. Bennet knew very little about the two, especially since they spoke mostly in Japanese and only to each other. One thing which was of note was how Hiro insisted that he was a "superhero". Normally Noah wouldn't put too much into the ravings that sounded as if they bordered on the insane, but the past few years working in Alphabet Soup caused him to think differently. He had seen child prodigies with gifts he could have never believed were possible. Girls able to make drawings come to life, men able to increase their height, people with mind control... the list went on and on. A man from Japan claiming to have a super power wasn't out of the question at all.

The other person in the room had her head on his lap, resting. She was his daughter, Claire. She meant the world to him, and when he had discovered that during the massive evacuation of the city that she had been shot, it nearly destroyed him. His visit to her in the hospital resulted in what brought them all to Claire's hospital room: a man named Sylar was there, with what appeared to be massive telekinetic powers. For whatever reason, he was trying to murder Claire and anyone who stood in his way. In a tangle of events Noah was yet unable to wrap his mind around, Sylar was injured (killed, perhaps?) and Claire was saved. Before they could rejoice further, Officer Matt Parkman of the AGPD brought them all downtown for questioning.

The one thing that bothered him the most in all of the mess that had happened was what _exactly_ had happened to his daughter. She was refusing to speak about it, making it difficult for Noah to ascertain the situation. He knew Claire had been shot, but having inspected her quickly before being detained Noah could see virtually no signs of any gunshot wound on her, let alone the normal sluggishness of being treated at a hospital for a life threatening gunshot wound (of which Noah had _much_ experience with). The whole situation was "interesting" to say the least.

 _Has my Claire-Bear joined the ranks of the special candidates Kaplan and McKnight have been trying to harvest for Alphabet Soup? That was never my intent for her and her brother... I... Do I want them involved in this organization at that level? No, I don't... But how can I hide this!?_

Noah's mind was racing with different thoughts about the horrors he knew happened behind the scenes of Angel Grove. Kids being shipped in to be experiments in GA Rex's massive science experiment. And when some of the subjects didn't perform well, he knew they had "special" encounters with a certain Agent Richie Mendoza. Noah was not ready to gamble Claire's life to have to have one day a chance to "meet" Richie.

"Dad? Who was that man with you?" Claire asked suddenly, breaking the train of thought Noah was having.

"Oh... he's just a friend of mine from the office," Noah half-lied.

"He seems rather adept with a knife for a man who sells paper..." Claire muttered.

"Where is _this_ coming from, Sweetie!?" Noah asked, going into the offensive to not have to answer anymore questions.

"It's just that... When I was being escorted to the evacuation site, I heard someone mention your name... but he called you _Agent_ Bennet. Dad... what is going on!? I mean, I was shot and now I'm fine but I was dying but then I wasn't and now I have no scars and the man wanted to kill me and he made me float and, and, and... ahhhh! What's happening!?"

Noah's heart was heavy with sadness for his daughter. She was obviously going through the same trials he was, but from a different angle. Something was happening to her she couldn't possibly understand. And on top of that, some loudmouth from the agency practically painted a bullseye on Noah's back when it came to the subject of what he _really_ did for work.

Noah sighed. "Honey, I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this."

"Really?" Peter said suddenly, breaking his silence. "An explanation for why I saw your daughter dying in my arms, then minutes later be completely fine? An explanation for why I can hear your thoughts about working for General McKnight and some weird organization named after children's soup? About how you were thinking of my brother, the senator? About how we were all attacked by a superhuman man who threw a projectile at me, who _murdered_ me, yet I'm still alive? What's your explanation? Or will I have to wait for... what's his name...? Hmm... there! In your thoughts! Dr. Kaplan? Dr. Harlan?"

Claire stared at Peter, frightened. "Daddy... what is he talking about!?"

Noah sneered, standing up to tower over Peter. "He's a sick man, Claire. He's been through a traumatic experience and doesn't know what he's talking about."

Peter stood up, sneering as well while staring Noah in the eyes. "You live such a sad life. I'm not able to hear _everything_ you've been thinking, but just from what I heard... you're _sad_ , Agent Bennet. Lying to your family _every day_!"

"Shut up!" Noah yelled, grabbing Peter and slamming him into the bars behind him.

Meanwhile, Hiro furrowed his brow before speaking to Ando in Japanese. "Are you understanding what they're saying?"

"Yes, the nurse Zombie man says he can also read minds and that the man in the horn rimmed glasses is lying to the cheerleader. Zombie Man says Horn Rimmed Glasses works for the government," Ando recapped.

Hiro pursed his lips. "He's her father, but... if he's a G-Man perhaps he is dangerous to the cheerleader... Should we take her from here?"

Ando raised an eyebrow. "But your powers...?"

"I have been testing them. Ever since that man called The Haitian left the room I've been able to stop Time," Hiro stated. "I think he is somehow blocking my powers."

Ando shrugged at that revelation. "Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? How does stopping Time get us out of a locked cage?"

After sitting for a moment as Peter and Noah struggled, thinking about what Ando said, Hiro nodded. "You're right. I will wait until they open the cell again before getting out. Until then, we just hope the cheerleader stays safe."

Ando nodded. "'Save the cheerleader, save the world.'"

"Daddy! Please stop!" Claire yelled, tears streaming down her face.

"Tell her the truth, Bennet!" Peter yelled as Noah dropped him to the ground and got him in a double arm bar.

Straddling Peter's back, Noah looked at Claire. He was about to tell her to sit back and let him take care of things, but seeing the look of horror on her face gave him pause. He realized what he had done: he'd shown her who... _what_... he really was. An agent of the government willing to do anything to anyone to get things done.

"In other words," Peter stated, reading Noah's thoughts. "You're a monster, Noah."

"Hey!" Officer Jerome Stone shouted, approaching the cellblock. "What's going on in there!?"

Noah let Peter go before standing up and adjusting his blazer. "We're fine, Officer Stone. Fine."

Peter pulled himself up and laughed. "Yeah. Just _peachy_."

"Well, you're free to go, Mr. Petrelli." Stone said as he began to open the cage. "Your brother apparently has a lot of sway with our chief..."

"Nathan is _here_?" Peter asked, shocked.

"This way, Mr. Petr-" Stone began before Hiro stopped Time.

Looking to Ando, Hiro sighed. "Oh, I wish I could teleport..."

He began dragging Ando out of the room. As he did, his eyes fell on the scared look Claire had on her face. Sighing, he lifted Ando up and put him back on the bench. Concentrating, Hiro resumed Time.

"-elli." Stone finished as Time resumed.

Peter began walking out before pausing in front of Claire. Turning to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Be careful. Don't trust anyone. _Especially_ him," Peter stated before Stone ushered him out.

Claire looked at her father and folded her arms across her chest. "Daddy... _please_... please tell me what he's talking about."

Noah smirked before sitting back down on the bench. "Alright, Honey... sit down. This may take a moment..."

All the while, Ando looked to Hiro in confusion. "Hiro? Why didn't you get us out of here?"

Hiro smiled. "Because we are supposed to help the cheerleader. As long as we are here next to her, she is in our line of vision and we can help her. If we had left, she'd be all alone."

Ando nodded slowly. "Good point."

"Okay, now please translate for me what he father is saying!" Hiro asked his friend excitedly.

. . .

Matt Parkman pounded his fist into the table and stood up. He'd been trying to question The Haitian, but nothing was working. Not the way Parkman had grown quickly accustomed to doing. He'd gotten quite used to being able to read people's minds (though it wasn't a perfected art yet) to get the information he was needing in the short amount of time he'd had the ability. But for whatever reason, he could not read anything from The Haitian.

"Your records say you are mute, Mr. Sheku. But I _know_ I saw you speak to Mr. Noah Bennet when I was handcuffing all of you. Now please, tell me what was going on in the hospital room... _now_!" Parkman yelled.

The Haitian pointed at a piece of paper he had written on earlier. On it was his official statement of what happened. Many of it completely contradicted what happened, things he knew would be on hospital cameras in the hallways. He didn't care, though, because he knew Alphabet Soup would be able to erase that footage and help ensure whatever he said as having happened become official in the police reports.

Parkman sneered and stared at The Haitian. "Who _are_ you!? How are you able to block me!?"

The Haitian knew not of any abilities he had. He had, apparently, been given the ability after the events of the eclipse earlier that day of blocking other people from using their abilities. It had worked for him when facing Sylar, and it was working for him while he was being questioned there by Parkman.

"I'm going to figure out what's happening here. Mark my words." Parkman said as he hit the intercom button in the room. "Take him back to his cell. He's not being released due to his statement contradicting everything I've seen in the footage. Bring me the nurse."

"Sorry, Parkman. Can't do that. Senator Nathan Petrelli picked him up."

Scoffing and shaking his head slowly, Parkman pushed the button to reply. "Then get me the other 'paper salesman', Noah Bennet."

. . .

Sitting at his favorite Italian restaurant in Angel Grove, Nathan looked at his brother seriously. He had just been told by Peter everything that had happened. From Claire, to Sylar, to dying. Taking a slow and calculated bite of his fettuccine, he nodded.

"You understand this can never get out, right?" Nathan asked his brother.

Peter looked at him in shock. "Excuse me? Kinda hard when my name, prints, and face is all over this. Camera footage, to say the least."

Nathan smiled. "That can all be... overlooked. I have friends in the right places here in Angel Grove."

Peter furrowed his brow. "You're serious!?"

"My political career would-"

"Oh, shut it, Nathan. How does _everything_ have to come back to your career, huh?" Peter demanded angrily. "It's like you don't even care that I _came back to life_!"

"Please... lower your voice, Peter." Nathan said, looking around. "And you have to understand how crazy it sounds, Pete. You really think people will believe that you can read minds, or come back from the dead?"

 _That's like me telling people that I suddenly was able to fly..._ Peter heard Nathan think.

Suddenly, an image appeared in Peter's mind. It was of Nathan, staring out the window of the Alphabet Soup facility. He could see the eclipse that had started. The same tingling, painful feeling Peter had felt was crawling through Nathan's body. As that happened, Nathan had looked down and suddenly had seen himself floating above the floor. Peter watched through Nathan's eyes as Nathan dropped to the ground, suddenly turning around and sprinting in fright up some stairs. Standing on the roof, out of breath, Nathan was looking at his own hands. Suddenly, he was floating again. Up and up, higher and higher, faster and faster. Peter could feel Nathan's heart pounding faster and faster the higher he went. He then felt Nathan begin to direct his body. Actually _fly_ through the sky, defying gravity. After a few moments, Nathan had landed back at the Alphabet Soup facility.

The image ended. Peter shook his head before looking back at his brother. He was shocked.

"Everything okay, Pete?" Nathan asked, taking another bit of pasta.

Peter reached out and grabbed Nathan's free hand. "You can _fly_!?"

Nathan's eyes grew to be as large as saucers. "What... did you say?"

"I told you, I can read minds Nate. You _flew_!? Why would you keep this from me!?" Peter demanded.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." Nathan stated, laughing falsely and taking another bite of food.

 _This cannot be happening... I'm going to be the next president! No... I can't have this happening... What can I do to keep Pete quiet? Ship him away?_ Nathan thought.

"Ship me away!?" Peter gasped, standing up abruptly.

"You're telling the truth...?" Nathan stammered, realizing Peter was really hearing his thoughts.

 _I have to call my security detail to knock him out. It's the only way to calm him down so we can think things out. I can't have this ruining my political career!_ Nathan was thinking desperately.

Peter's hands were shaking. He didn't know what to do. He was scared, not knowing what to do next. He realized his brother's selfishness wasn't going to be anything but a detriment to him. He turned around and began sprinting as fast as he could toward the back door of the restaurant.

"Peter! No! Come back!" Nathan yelled as his security team started sprinting after both him and Peter. Nathan then turned to them and motioned for them to get Peter.

Bursting through the door, Peter found himself in a dark alley. Frowning, he turned left and began to run as fast as he could down the narrow area. His heart stopped when he hit a dead end. Turning around, he saw the three hulking guards rushing toward them, Nathan following behind. Swallowing hard, Peter closed his eyes and jumped up to see if he could perhaps grab the top of the brick wall to climb up. What happened next shocked him. Instead of jumping up, he _flew_ up.

Higher and higher until he was nothing but a speck in the sky. Laughing incredulously, he directed himself toward the hospital and shot toward it like a bullet. The wind whipped past his face as he did so. It was the most exhilirating experience of his life. He didn't know how or why it was possible, only that it was happening.

Meanwhile, back in the alley, the security team looked around in confusion They hadn't seen Peter fly away, but knew he had gone in that direction. The wall was too high for Peter to have reached, but there were no other outlets for him to have gone.

The only person with a hint of what could have happened was Senator Petrelli. Furrowing his brow, Nathan pulled out his phone and dialed a phone number.

"I need to speak with GA Rex immediately. Tell him it's Senator Nathan Petrelli and that there is a very... _delicate_ situation happening here in Angel Grove that he needs to be made aware of _immediately_."

. . .

Hiro sat in the cell, fuming as The Haitian sat across from him. "He's here again! Blocking my powers! What do we do if he tries something!?"

Ando sighed. "I don't know, Hiro. Maybe we could fight him?"

"You think you two could take me on? I guarantee you that I would drop you both in three seconds _flat,_ " The Haitian responded in Japanese.

"Ahhh!" Hiro screamed, jumping up and landing with both feet on his bench.

"You speak Japanese!?" Ando cried out in amazement.

"I have to speak many languages in my line of work," The Haitian stated simply. "Now, you are the third person who has accused me of blocking powers. Explain now."

All the while, Claire watched the trio speak in Japanese. She knew not what was happening, but was growing more and more irritated by the prospect that the man her father had brought into her hospital room seemed to be getting the two Japanese gentlemen who helped save her life agitated.

"I am Hiro Nakamura. I have the ability to st-" Hiro started.

Ando jumped up and cupped Hiro's mouth with his hands. "Shut up, Hiro! The less he knows about us, the better!"

The Haitian slowly stood up, cracking his neck. "Okay, fine. If you won't tell me, then I'll beat it out of you."

"With the girl watching!?" Ando cried out in shock, still covering Hiro's mouth.

"I've done worse." The Haitian said simply, stepping forward to attack.

. . .

Matt Parkman was having as much success with Noah Bennet as he was having with The Haitian. Not because he couldn't read his mind, for he was able to do that just fine. What he was having problems doing was figuring out _what_ Noah was thinking. Agent Bennet had figured out early on what Matt's power was and had begun thinking in Italian.

"Italian, huh?" Parkman said, pursing his lips and nodding sarcastically. "Fine! Don't make me resort to old school interrogation tactics!"

Noah squinted his eyes as he pulled off his glasses. "Really, Officer Parkman? If you move forward one bit, I'll ask to see my... well, you know who. Then this little session of ours is over until he arrives. Plus, I'm sure your superiors are already drawing up paperwork to reprimand you in being hostile towards the _victims_ of a crime."

"Victims!? You came bursting into a hospital with loaded weapons, and now you're lying about what happened!" Parkman shouted.

"Lying? How so? Does not my statement match nearly word for word with my co-worker's statement?" Noah asked. "And you can't honestly take the word of my daughter or the man who was hit over the head seriously. One was suffering from a concussion and the other traumatized because she was nearly murdered. I think you should be focusing your efforts into finding this Sylar character."

"Ridiculous! Mr. Bennet, I have footage showing Sylar _floating_ out of your daughter's room! Of one of the Japanese guys being in the hallway outside your daughter's room before vanishing! Of them entering your daughter's room _after_ you and Mr. Shuku, not _before_ like you both stated!" Parkman countered.

Bennet smiled and shrugged. "I'm sure once you go over the footage again, you'll see where your mistake was. I guarantee it."

The people for who I work, Officer Parkman, are very resourceful. Bennet thought-spoke directly to Parkman, who he knew would pick up the message. Don't dig any deeper into this. And... and I believe your talents are being wasted here. You don't even make fifty thousand a year, do you? What would you say if my company hired you, with a salary of half a million a year?

"What!? A _paper_ company!?" Parkman blurted out with a laugh while shaking his head in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" Bennet asked, feigning ignorance.

If you drop this and let my partner and daughter go, I promise you that my company, who I _really_ work for, will be able to give you riches far beyond what you're currently getting here. Bennet thought. If not, I guarantee you will be living in a nightmare for the rest of your life, and you'll be working traffic duty for the remainder of your career.

"What!? I-" Parkman began.

Before he could utter another word, the lights went out in the room. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear quite clearly.

Parkman? This is not a normal outage. I cannot hear the backup generators coming online, and I know you guys have them. Someone is here and I'm sure they are targeting me... or worse yet, my daughter for who knows why. Noah warned Parkman.

"Sylar..." Matt stated, furrowing his brow.

My thoughts exactly. Let me loose and I can get us out of here alive. Please... don't let him get to me or my daughter. I promise you I will tell you everything you need to know, but for now _please_ listen to me...

Parkman, biting his lip, began to take out the keys to uncuff Noah's right hand from the chair he was on. He couldn't quite explain it, but being able to read thoughts also gave him the ability to the _intent_ behind those thoughts. He knew Bennet was telling the truth, and the prospect of making more money in a year than he would have seen in his entire lifetime was more than he could ignore.

As he felt his wrists go free after Parkman stumbled around in the dark, Noah stood up. "Okay, stay close and follow my lead. This man is capable of some crazy things, and we need to be ready. Use your ability to check for his thoughts and let me know as soon as you do."

"What then?" Parkman asked.

Noah sneered as he felt his way through the dimly lit room to the door. "Then we finish Sylar off like we should have back at the hospital."

. . .

Claire jumped up and stood in between The Haitian, Hiro, and Ando. "Stop! What are you doing!?"

The Haitian furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Move, Ms. Bennet. This does not concern you."

"Lies! Of course it does! They are only here because they tried to save _me_!" Claire protested.

"Yes! Save the cheerleader, save the world!" Hiro proclaimed.

"Now you listen to me. My father already told me about the company he works for, and how he is a government agent who translates for diplomats and how it's undercover, but what is up with this _violence_!?" Claire asked, telling The Haitian what she thought was the truth her father had told her while Parkman had been interrogating him.

The Haitian chuckled. "He told you that, yes? Interesting... Yes, that is exactly who we are. But these two are not who you think they are, Claire."

Claire furrowed her brow. "Oh, yeah?"

"They were telling me of their plans to kidnap you and hold you ransom. That's why I was going to attack them. I am sorry, I just didn't want to alarm you," The Haitian lied.

"No! It not true!" Hiro yelled in broken English.

"He's lying! We're here to help you!" Ando insisted. "Why else would we have stopped that Sylar man!"

"Yeah, this isn't making any sense... What is g-" Claire began. She stopped talking, though, as soon as the lights went out.

"Stay close!" The Haitian cried out, standing in between Claire and the door to the cell. "Stay close and I will keep you safe!"

"It's him! It's him!" Hiro cried out in his native tongue.

"You have to do something Hiro!" Ando begged.

"I can't! My powers are being blocked still!" Hiro said in a panic.

Claire felt her insides turn to ice. Flashes began in her mind. She imagined herself once again hovering over her bed, staring at the man in the hoodie who called himself Sylar as he lifted her up and paralyzed her limbs. She remembered watching as Sylar murdered Peter, and threw her father up against the wall. She remembered the panic she had felt then and those same feelings were there again.

Tears falling from her eyes, she shook her head violently. "Please... please no. Please don't let him hurt me again..."

The Haitian stood tall and brave. "He knows he cannot do anything to me. Not as long as he is around me. Apparently, Ms. Bennet, I can block whatever powers he has. You will be safe."

Then, suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream was heard from within the cell. It was coming from Ando.

"The devil! The devil! He's here!" Ando screamed, pointing up in the rafters.

Claire, Hiro, and The Haitian looked up. Fear swept over all of them as they saw two red eyes in the rafters staring down at them. Before any of them could flinch, they saw the eyes quickly move from rafter to rafter until it landed in front of the cell door.

"Ahhhh!" Claire screamed in terror. "Please no! Please! Someone help us!"

"You have no power here, Sylar!" The Haitian proclaimed. "Leave now or I will break you!"

In silence, the two red eyes continued their penetrating gaze at those in the cell. Before their very eyes, they watched as the cell slowly opened.

"No... no!" Claire screamed in a panic.

"Hey, you! Freeze!" Someone from the other end of the room yelled.

The red eyes turned momentarily to see who it was who had entered the area. Using his night vision, he pounced ahead to incapacitate the guard.

"Hurry! While we have a chance!" The Haitian told Claire as he began to drag her out of the cell.

"We have to follow them!" Hiro yelled, pulling Ando to follow them into the dark hall.

"We're all going to be destroyed!" Ando yelled, weeping like a baby.

As The Haitian took a step into the hall, he suddenly felt Red Eyes jump on him. Being shoved to a wall, he clenched his fist and rushed at the glowing red eyes as if they were targets. He swung, but missed.

"Heh..." Red Eyes stated. "I _live_ in the darkness..."

Before The Haitian could move again, he felt his legs get kicked out from under him. Suddenly on his back, Red Eyes mounted onto his stomach and punched him twice before knocking him out.

All the while, Hiro was trying to pull Claire toward the light of the door at the end of the hall. Ando had sprinted ahead, holding the door to make sure it wouldn't close and lock on them.

Suddenly, Red Eyes flew through the air and landed in front of Claire and Hiro, blocking them from the door.

"Ahhh!" Hiro screamed as he closed his eyes to stop Time.

"Wait! Don't!" Red Eyes cried out. "I'm a good guy!"

It was too late. Hiro stopped Time and began pushing Claire toward the door. As he did, though, he grew curious to see who their assailant was. Opening the door wider to let in more light, he gasped when he saw who it was. Concentrating, he started Time back up.

"Drat!" Red Eyes proclaimed. "I was too late..."

"No! We are still here!" Hiro said happily from behind him.

"What are you doing!?" Ando cried out, terrified.

"No! He was right! You guys are trying to kidnap me!" Claire yelled, ripping free from Hiro and running toward the light.

Red Eyes sighed and nimbly jumped over her, blocking her path again. As he did, she gasped. The light washed over him, showing him who he was. He was a man she had heard of from some of her school professors and old history books she had found, left behind and which had accidentally survived the Book Purge of the Eighties. He was the star of many comic books and other types of stories. It couldn't have been him, but there was no mistaking it.

"You... you're..." Claire gasped.

Red Eyes nodded. "Yup. I'm Batman. Now c'mon! We don't have a lot of time before they come for you!"

. . .

By the time Parkman and Noah made their way to the cell, it was too late. The lights had come back on, but his daughter was gone. They saw The Haitian's unconscious body lying outside the cell, along with a line of security guards that had been strewn along the way. Noah fell to his knees in distress.

"My baby... my baby! No!" Noah screamed.

Parkman shook his head. "This isn't Sylar."

"Excuse me?" Noah asked, suddenly gaining some Hope.

"Sylar, according to Petrelli, murdered him. These other people are still alive. It doesn't fit his MO," Parkman stated confidently so to give Noah a reason to believe his daughter was yet alive.

"What now, then?" Noah asked, confused.

Parkman turned to him and folded his arms across his chest. "Now? Now you take me to this company of yours. I'm very interested in how things will be at my new place of employment. If they are powerful enough to edit surveillance footage, as you so subtly hinted at before, then we should be able to use their resources so we can track down whoever did this to your daughter. We will find her, Bennet. I promise."

. . .

Claire sat in Batman Beyond's jet next to Hiro and Ando as they flew away from Angel Grove. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been out of the city, but that wasn't the most important thing on her mind.

"So, you're telling me my father works for an organization that kidnaps children, drugs them, and monitors them for the _government_? That's insane!" Claire stated.

" _That's_ insane? Not you surviving a lethal gunshot wound? Or a man levitating you in the air? Or a group of spandex wearing superheroes using giant machines to fight space aliens? I'm sorry, but it would seem as if me telling you about Alphabet Soup would be the _least_ of your worries, Ms. Bennet." Batman Beyond stated as he continued flying.

"You trust Batman-san. He a real hero!" Hiro proclaimed happily.

"I'm glad to know my name is known around the world, Mr. Nagamaka." Beyond replied with a smile.

"No, it is _Nakamura,_ " Hiro corrected.

"Right..." Batman replied.

"Wait... how do you know us? What happened?" Claire asked.

"Well, my... um... _boss_ has been studying Alphabet Soup for quite some time. They have been doing some really dangerous stuff lately and I was already in town getting ready to bust another of their projects up, but that resolved itself... sorta... There was a man involved in that thing I was doing named Gabriel Grey. I used my... er... resources to keep an eye on him. After we were able to compile all of our data we saw what happened to you. We don't know why this started to all of you, but once we saw what was happening we decided to bring you guys in for a little... _thing_ we have going on. To stop Alphabet Soup once and for all."

Hiro's face lit up like a firework as Ando finished translating to him. "We can be the Justice League!"

"The what?" Claire asked in confusion.

Batman Beyond laughed. "I can see the censorship of what really happened with the Superhero Registration Act didn't reach out to your country. And that's actually kind of what my boss has in mind with people like you guys..."

"People like us?" Claire asked.

"I don't know why, but it seems like that eclipse that happened today triggered something inside of you and a few other people. It unlocked something latent in you. Bru... we'll figure it out soon. But until then, we'll just deal with that and use your abilities to stop Alphabet Soup from continuing its horrible experiments on you guys," Batman stated simply.

"Why should I believe you?" Claire asked, though something inside her was believing every word he said.

"You don't have to. Once we get where we're going, I'll show you all the evidence you'll ever need," Batman stated.

"Where exactly _are_ we going, Mr. Batman sir?" Ando asked.

"New York. A little place I like to call Gotham City."

. . .

Peter had scrambled to get all of his belongings out of his hospital locker. After he had done so, he had made his way to his loft in the city. He frowned when he saw his street blocked off for construction, where the monster attack had happened to greatly damage his block. Decided to try out his new power, he flew up to the top of the building and entered in through the roof entrance. After a few moments, he found himself in his dwelling place, collecting what essentials he had to take with him. He was done with Angel Grove and was ready to start anew somewhere else.

Figuring he had plenty of time, he shrugged and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Sitting on the couch in his one room apartment, he began to surf the internet on his laptop. Maui, Jamaica, Australia... he began to look through the different options to start anew. And with the ability to fly, he figured he could go wherever he wanted and leave whenever he pleased.

"Welcome to freedom." He said as he ate a spoonful of cereal.

"Freedom, Pete?" Nathan asked, making his presence in the room known.

"Ah!" Peter screamed. "Nate!? What are you doing here!?"

"After seeing how you raided your locker at the hospital, I figured this was the next logical place that you'd go," Nathan answered simply. "I'm just glad you decided to take a break before leaving or I'd have never caught you. Australia, Pete? I'm sorry, but I can't have you leaving. Not like this. What if someone finds you, huh? That could _ruin_ my presidential bid. You know how long I've been working on this, right?"

Peter sneered as he got up, tossing his bowl across the room. Nathan flinched as he heard it hit the wall, shattering into many pieces.

"You don't even care that we can fly, do you!? Or that I can't be killed, huh!?" Peter screamed.

"You can't _fly_ , Peter," Nathan said. "It's all a delusion you've created in your scarred mind to deal with your near death experience."

"Oh, yeah!? Then how did you get here, huh!?" Peter asked incredulously.

"I'm a senator, Petey. I can go wherever I want," Nathan stated with a scoff.

"Then how did I get here?" Peter asked. "The streets are blocked off."

"I don't know how you did it, Pete, but you sure as heck didn't _fly,_ " Nathan said sadly. "Now please... let's go get you some help."

Peter clenched his fists before yelling angrily at Nathan. "Why are you lying!? We can _fly_!"

"Prove it," Nathan said with a smile. "Levitate where you are. Right now. Read my mind or something."

Peter began to concentrate. All he could hear as he stared at Nathan was silence. He then tried jumping up to float, but nothing happened.

"Wait... what!?" Peter asked, confused.

Nathan sighed. "See, Pete? You're sick. Let me get you some help. I know of some good docs who-"

"Alphabet Soup!? Oh, heck no!" Peter screamed. "Just keep your government pals away from me! I'll prove to you this is all real!"

Before Nathan could move, Peter grabbed a pen from off the floor and jabbed it into his thigh. He screamed in pain as he fell to the floor, blood gushing out from the wound. Pulling the pen out, he pointed.

"Peter, what are you doing!?" Nathan demanded in a panic.

"I'll heal! You'll see!" Peter screamed, ignoring the waves of pain.

"Help! I need to get him to a hospital!" Nathan screamed.

Peter watched in shock as several security guards busted through his door. As he grew lightheaded, he looked to Nathan.

"They... they flew here, too?" He said woozily.

"No, you idiot! I told you I gained access as a senator! The blockade let me through!" Nathan screamed. "Hurry before he bleeds out!"

Peter shook his head as his vision grew blurry. "What...? This... this doesn't... make... sense..."

Nathan watched sadly as Peter blacked out. Pursing his lips, he directed his men to take Peter out to the car waiting below. He gave them instructions to take him to Alphabet Soup's main facility. As he did, the other member of his party made himself known: The Haitian. After he had been taken back into Alphabet Soup with Parkman and Bennett, General McKnight had decided to test The Haitian's new abilities in the field and had instructed Nathan on what to do. He and The Haitian had snuck into Peter's apartment, and with The Haitian's neutralizing ability Nathan would trick Peter into thinking he had no powers. The plan had been to convince Peter to go with them voluntarily, but the end result seemed to work, too.

"He should be fine once he is out of range of my abilities," The Haitian told Nathan to comfort him. "His healing should come back into play and the wound will disappear."

"And what is your range?" Nathan asked.

The Haitian shrugged. "I don't know yet. Now let's head downstairs so we can head back to the facility."

"You head down in a moment. Give Peter a chance to heal before you inhibit his powers again. I won't be heading back with you guys in the car," Nathan stated.

As Senator Petrelli headed to the door, The Haitian looked at him in confusion. "But how will you get back to the facility, Mr. Petrelli?"

Opening the door, he turned back and flashed his famous politician's smile. "I think I'll _fly_."

. . .

Claire stared at the monitors in the Batcave in shock. Scenes of her father strong arming parents into "letting" the government take their children, or suffer the unspeakable consequences. Watching her father usher kids from their homes kicking and screaming, causing some of them to never get to see their families again. She saw his involvement with Alphabet Soup's initial superpowered groups called the Royal Flush Gang and the Ultrimen. She watched scenes of Astronema breaking into the facility with Ecliptor and how her father had tried shooting the young girl down.

"I... I don't care if she was destroying people there. She was still a little girl. How can you just shoot at a girl like that?" She asked, confused about the man who she saw on screen before her.

"I am very, very sorry Ms. Cheerleader." Hiro said, bowing. "But you are with the Batman now! He fix everyting!"

Turning to Batman Beyond, Ando pursed his lips. "But... you were active _in the sixties_! How are you still alive?"

Batman Beyond smiled. "It's a mystery, huh?"

"That's because it wasn't _him,_ " A gruff voice said from the shadows. "The Batman you are thinking of was _me_."

The four people turned and and stared as none other than billionaire Bruce Wayne stepped out from the shadows. Claire felt her jaw drop.

"Is this some sort of a joke? _You're_ Batman?" Claire asked.

"Bruce! What are you doing!?" Batman Beyond asked in shock.

"If they are going to be a part of our new Justice League, I don't want them thinking we are holding out on them. We all need to be on the same page," Bruce said to Batman Beyond before turning his attention to Claire. "And judging by your reactions, I think you are willing to join the fight, right 'Miracle Girl'?"

Claire blushed. "I... I guess... yeah. I can't just stand by as these kids are ripped from their homes."

"Good. And as for you two..." Bruce said, looking to Hiro and Ando. "What _are_ your powers? It's hard to tell from the footage. Teleporting?"

"Hiro can stop Time," Ando reported to Mr. Wayne.

"Interesting... That would make you _extremely_ unstoppable. How is it that you were not able to stop Sylar, then?" Bruce asked.

"I am not able to keep Time stopped for very long, the Batman," Hiro answered. "I took too long, and he almost destroy me."

"I see. We'll have to save you for the final act." Bruce said as he stepped toward his computer.

"Well, what's the beginning act, Mr. Wayne?" Claire asked, curious. "Are we really teaming up to do this?"

"Yes. But first, you will need to meet the other members of your team. They are different than you two, Hiro and Claire. They are what we used to call Metahumans. A lot of the people you see in Alphabet Soup right now are Metas, people who have powers above and beyond those of normal Humans like me and Terry," Bruce explained.

"Terry?" Claire asked.

Batman Beyond raised his hand. "That'd be me."

"One of Alphabet Soup's goals outside of creating new Power Rangers, learning how to manipulate Time, or exploiting Metas is to create artificial Metahumans using bionic implants. All of these things are... _terrible_... and we must stop them before they succeed. Over the past few weeks Terry and I have been doing research, trying to find some Metahumans who can help us out, help us re-establish the Justice League. Come out now, please."

As Bruce ended speaking, several people made their way into the room. They each wore fantastical outfits, more outrageous than the one before them. They were several people Omega Ranger recognized from the Superhero Registration Act and the preceding war that had happened nearly forty years earlier. He was shocked to see them still alive after all of those years.

"First up we have Mr. Braddock, also known as Spider UK. He has the abilities of a spider: super strength, agility, and can shoot webs out of his wrists.

"Billy Batson, also known as Captain Marvel. Using Magic he obtained from a Wizard he met from another dimension, he can transform from the young man you see before you into a super powered hero who rivals Sup... a good friend of mine from long, long ago.

"Micah Sanders, who we call Tech Boy. He can communicate with any piece of technology and can wire it and get it to, for the most part, do what he wants. He's actually the reason we were able to find out what happened to you, Claire. While we were spying on Alphabet Soup, Micah was able to track Mr. Grey to you guys. The man who began to call himself Sylar."

As Bruce mentioned Sylar, Claire tensed up a bit. Noticing that, Bruce nodded slowly.

"Do not worry about him, Claire. The bullet wounds Ando gave him were extensive. He'll be very lucky to have survived them." Bruce stated, giving Batman Beyond a knowing look.

Beyond sighed. He knew Bruce was stretching the truth about Sylar and the severity of his gunshot wound. He knew all too well Bruce's training tactics and how Bruce was willing to bend the truth to get the results he wanted.

"Continuing our introductions, we have Flash Thompson who used to work for the government as an agent. He now goes by the name of simply Venom. Some of his abilities are similar to Spider UK. He is a man who is attached to an alien Symbiote who grants him his great abilities, which also include tendrils and many other powers the ooze comprising his power suit can give him.

"Next is Daphne Millbrook, who goes by the name of Flashette. She is, as far as I can tell, the last Speedster left on Earth after the others mysteriously vanished forty years ago. She can tap into a universal power known as the Speed Force, giving her amazing speed.

"And my protege, Terry McGinnis aka Batman Beyond. I trained him up to be as good a fighter as I was back in my prime. He is a Human with no powers, using a suit made of special nanites which helps him in several situations. I serve as the voice in his head, guiding him and helping all of you on the field by extension."

"Don't worry," Batman Beyond said with sarcasm laced in his voice. "It's not nearly as annoying as you'd think. Hehe..."

"It's great to meet you two. Hiro with the ability to stop Time, and the unkillable Claire Bennett." William Braddock stated, smiling at the two.

"This. Is. Amazing!" Ando cried out.

Trying to compose himself, Hiro stepped forward and bowed to the heroes before him. "You are all legends. I am proud to be by your side. I will do all I can to help you."

"I like Miracle Girl for Claire. As for Hiro..." Flash Thompson said. "How about Time Master?"

"That sounds awesome!" Micah said eagerly, looking to his best friend, Billy.

"Dude, our team will be unbeatable!" Billy proclaimed.

Bruce sneered. "Don't let their naive optimism taint you. This will be rather difficult, especially with recent developments. If you'll look here at the hologram on the table beside Terry, you will see a layout of the Alphabet Soup facility Micah was able to make for us. Terry and I found a small hole in their security system. As cliche as it sounds, it is an air vent leading from the outside into the cafeteria on the third floor. The plan is for Spider UK to swing overhead from one building to the base of the Bat Jet which will be flying incognito over the building. As he swings, with Flashette in one hand, he will let go of her when I give him the go ahead. Flashette will run as fast as she can, and the trajectory she get her into the air duct. With the practice we already had in place, she will be able to vibrate through the walls of the air vents and land in the cafeteria. From there, she will place a floppy disk into the computer of the cafeteria workers, giving Tech Boy a way past McKnight's advanced firewall.

"Once the systems are down, Batman will lead Venom, Marvel, Time Master, Spider UK, and Miracle Girl from the Bat Jet down into the cafeteria. From there they will join with Flashette and get as far as they can, with the goal being the fifth floor where they keep the files Dr. Beckett left in his office on the Quantum Morphers. From what I have surmised, only you can move when you stop Time, correct Hiro?"

"Correct," Hiro said after Ando caught up with the translation.

"Then this is where you come in, Time Master. If you are able to, freeze Time and run into the room. Look for a box, but don't put your hand in it. That is the box containing the Quantum Morpher. Run out of the room, unfreeze Time, and get Batman to rush you out as fast as possible. At that point, it will be up to the discretion of the rest of the Leaguers to get themselves out, whatever way possible. It's a shame Hiro can't stop Time for long periods, but this is what we have to work with."

"Um... what do you mean by 'if you are able to' when you told Hiro his part of the plan?" Daphne asked. "Are you saying there's a chance he won't be able to use his power?"

"Yes," Bruce said. "That leads us to the problems this plan could meet along the way. Through our surveillance provided by Tech Boy, we were able to see that there were two other people affected by the eclipse who are now employed by Alphabet Soup. A Rene Shuku, also known as The Haitian, and a Matt Parkman. The Haitian is able to stop powers, as Hiro is able to attest to. I believe he is able to also stop Metahumans from using their powers, too. That would render Flashette, Time Master, Tech Boy, Spider UK, and Miracle Girl powerless. We would need to depend on Batman and Captain Marvel if you lot encounter The Haitian.

"We also need to take into account something GA Rex has brought into the facility. He is trying to weaponize something Micah reports to us as being called 'Zocato Guns'. From what I've been able to tell, it can completely destroy Magic spells."

Billy sighed at that. "Making me a little boy instead of Captain Marvel."

"And if their tech is able to detect your Magic, you can believe General McKnight will use them to incapacitate you, Billy. That is why Batman will be leading this mission. He is the only one of you lot who can keep going, no matter what."

"And what about Parkman?" Claire asked. "I remember him. He was the policeman who took us in for questioning."

Bruce nodded. "Thank you, Claire. Parkman is, from what I can tell, a mind reader. He is actually the most dangerous person in that building and I as of yet have nothing to combat his threat. I am not sure what his range is yet, but if he happens to be near your group, he _will_ hear your thoughts. He will know of our plans, and know we are in the building. He will cause the security to be increased around the Quantum Morpher, and trigger the alarm to get you guys in a heap of trouble."

"The only thing we can do is cross our fingers that he doesn't trip the alarm, or that we don't cross paths with The Haitian. But you know the moment we are spotted in the building, The Haitian will be deployed by McKnight," Batman Beyond stated.

"That's why we need to move as fast as possible." Bruce stated gruffly, looking at his ragtag team.

"Uh... what's _my_ role in this? I can't exactly do much except not _die,_ " Claire asked, confused.

"You and Captain Marvel will be upfront and center," Bruce stated.

"In other words, we're the bullet shields." Billy said, winking at Claire.

"I was going to speak with you about this later, but yes. You take the hits so that the others won't have to," Bruce explained. "From my scans on you, though, I can tell you can still feel pain. I will drug you up a bit before you go, but it won't numb you completely. Is this something you are willing to do?"

Biting her lip, Claire looked up at the monitors again. The footage had been paused, and it was on her father dragging a young boy by one arm, kicking and screaming from his house. That little boy's look of terror on his face filled her with Rage.

"Yes. Yes I am." Claire stated, looking to the team around her. "We _will_ get through this."

"Uh... question?" Ando asked.

"Yes?" Bruce answered.

"Why can't Flashette just rush into the room and grab the box when no one is looking?" Ando asked.

"Thank you for reminding me. Although it is very expensive for them to use, they _do_ have access to generators in their building that generate something they call 'Anti-Speed Force'. The minute Daphne is detected there is a chance they could cripple her powers," Bruce answered. "Micah believes McKnight's paranoia put sensors in the building to pick up when Speed Force is used to activate the generators."

Daphne sneered. "'Crippled', Bruce? Nice choice of words..."

Bruce pursed his lips. "Sorry, Daphne. That wasn't purposeful. Anyhow, if it is true what Micah believes he found, then it would be very irresponsible of us to make her the crowning jewel, and only facet, of the plan. Daphne... if for whatever reason Micah is wrong and you _are_ able to get to the Quantum Morpher, then do it. My gut tells me it won't be that easy, though."

Daphne sighed. "I didn't, either. If and when I lose my powers, I know what I gotta do."

Bruce and Batman gave each other knowing looks before Bruce nodded. "Thank you, Daphne. And remember, _all_ of you, that we are a team and we'll do everything we can to get you all out alive."

"Why don't we ask the Power Rangers to help?" Claire asked.

Bruce snickered. "From what I can tell, their team's leader is an alien by the name of Zordon. I... I don't know anything about him and I don't trust him. He has strong ties with SHIELD, who I don't see eye to eye with. I think we're better off _without_ someone like him 'helping' us."

"Okay, then," Batman Beyond said. "Let's do this!"

. . .

Claire watched from aboard the Bat Jet as Spider UK and Flashette stretched on the roof a half mile away from the old building which was, in secret, the main facility for Alphabet Soup. She wore a simple pair of jeans with a black hoodie and a mask around her eyes Bruce had told her once belonged to an old sidekick of his. She looked beside her at Hiro Nakamura who sat, looking out the window nervously. Bruce had given him bionic contact lenses to get him to take off his glasses. He also had a wardrobe change: instead of slacks and a polo shirt he wore a black shirt, black pants, and a long black trench coat. As odd as it sounded, those slight changes made Hiro completely unrecognizable to her. Bruce had joked saying he had a good friend in the old Justice League whose identity was concealed solely by a pair of glasses which was the inspiration for Hiro's new look, or "Time Master".

Claire found herself holding her breath as Spider UK shot his webbing out of his wrist. Holding Flashette in one hand he swung forward with all his might as his web hit the bottom of the massive Bat Jet. Right as he was swinging over the vent, he let go of Flashette. In a literal flash, she zoomed into the vent and vanished.

A few moments later, Micah turned from his computer and gave everyone an okay sign. "We're in. Security is down. Now go! Go! Go!"

Breathing for the first time in what felt like ages, Claire stood up and followed Batman Beyond. Before she knew it, she had Flash Thompson grab her and jump out of the plane with her. Looking up, her smiled at her.

"Don't scream, okay?" Flash asked as the black Symbiote oozed over him.

Suddenly, she was looking at a mouthless, black slime covered man. She did all she could to stifle a cry as they landed on the roof. She looked up to see Hiro being carried as Batman Beyond landed on the roof alongside them. She then saw what looked like lightning erupt from the Bat Jet as a large, muscular man in red tights and a white cape flew down and landed beside Spider UK, who also landed beside them from his place under the Bat Jet.

"Billy!?" Hiro asked, amazed.

In a deep voice, he nodded. "In the flesh!"

"Stop wasting time!" Bruce grumbled through Batman's intercom.

Batman Beyond looked to everyone on his team. "Old man says to hurry up. _Now_!"

"Don't demean me in front of them, Terry." Bruce said, shaking his head slowly from the Batcave.

Venom scooped Claire up in his arms and leapt into the vent. In what felt like endless, winding tunnels, Claire was suddenly in the Alphabet Soup cafeteria. Looking around, she was shocked to see Daphne on the ground, struggling to crawl up into a chair.

"Daphne!? What's happened!?" Claire gasped.

Daphne gave Claire a pained smile. "Occupational hazard. You see, before I was a Speedster I was paraplegic from birth. I knew the risk coming in that I could be severed from the Speed Force..."

"We gotta get you out of here!" Claire cried out as the last of her team made their way to the cafeteria.

Daphne shook her head. "The sensors have already alerted the building that there was a surge of Speed Force. We don't have time to waste. Just... get back here for me as soon as possible, okay? Hurry!"

"She's right! Go!" Batman cried out. "Miracle Girl? Marvel? You guys lead the way!"

Ignoring the knots in her stomach, Claire pushed ahead. She had a somewhat lightheaded feeling as she took each step. She was unsure if that was from the drugs Bruce Wayne had pumped into her or from the sheer stress of the situation. It was probably a mix of both.

Meanwhile, on the floor below, a security officer walked with Matt Parkman by his side. "Are you getting anything? We've already taken the Speedster down, but we need you to find him!"

Matt gave the guy a look. "Sorry but I'm still _new_ at this, got it?"

Suddenly, Parkman heard something. A voice he had heard momentarily at the police station when The Haitian wasn't near him. It was the Japanese chatter of Hiro Nakamura. Focusing on that, he suddenly hear Batman's thoughts not too far off from Hiro's.

 _Okay, there are the stairs. We leave the third floor and head up to the fifth... Almost home free..._ Batman thought.

"Wait... They're on the third floor!" Parkman declared.

"They!?" The security guard cried out as he began to radio for back up.

"Yeah... lots of them!" Parkman revealed. "And they're heading for the fifth floor for some reason."

"The Quantum Morpher!" Dr. Harlan was heard saying over the radio frequency. "You-"

From the Bat Jet, Micah sighed heavily. "Tech Boy in to Batcave. I finally got past their firewall and deactivated their walkies, but... it's too late. Parkman found them and they are being surrounded soon."

Cursing his luck, Bruce radioed in to Batman Beyond. "Terry! Don't use the stairs! They're onto you!"

"Then what!?" Batman asked, confused.

"Have Marvel create a hole in the ceiling and you guys go up from there," Bruce said, thinking on the fly.

"Hey Cap! Bust through the ceiling and make us a path! We've been outed!" Batman declared.

Captain Marvel nodded. Jumping up, he flew through the ceiling just as he was ordered. Once again, Venom grabbed Claire and helped her through the hole. As he did, she saw Spider UK help Hiro up, with Batman trailing to ensure they weren't being followed.

"Okay, we're clear," Batman Beyond said as they landed on the fourth floor.

"You'd _think_ that," A voice said from the other end of the hall.

Turning around, the team saw a tall and muscular man standing at the end of the hall. Via Batman Beyond's cowl camera, Bruce stared in shock. The suit was slightly different, black instead of blue and the flag was a little more than what he remembered, but it the resemblance was uncanny.

"Steve...?" Bruce stammered out. "Captain America!?"

Batman Beyond had heard many stories about Captain America. How he was the leader of the government run Avengers and was as noble a man as there ever was. Of all the Avengers, Steve Rogers had been the one who Bruce had the most respect for. But Batman Beyond had been told how Captain America had met his end: during the Great Battle of Metropolis, Superman had punched Doomsday. Doomsday had lost its balance and had swung one of its protruding bones into Captain America, impaling him and ending his life on the spot.

"That's impossible." Batman Beyond stated, stepping forward toward the black suited man. "Captain America!?"

The man laughed. "No, but very close! I'm the new and improved super soldier. You can call me US Agent."

"They re-opened the Super Soldier project!?" Bruce gasped. "Micah, how did we miss this!?"

On the Bat Jet, Tech Boy began doing massive searches through the entire mainframe for any mention of the Super Soldier project. "I... I don't know! I'm not seeing it anywhere!"

Batman shook his head. "This is separate from Alphabet Soup, Bruce... Hey, US Agent!?"

Smirking as he slowly made his way to the New Justice League, he answered. "What, Batsy?"

"You're here with SHIELD, aren't you?" Batman asked.

US Agent nodded. "Yup. When the Power Rangers were nearly defeated by their own kind, Fury called us in to take care of things should Zordon fail. Looks like it was a good thing he did. You lot are in violation of the Superhero Registration Act."

"SHIELD!?" Bruce roared in anger. "Stand down! Everyone retreat!"

Batman Beyond shook his head. "He's only one guy! We can take him!"

That made US Agent bark with laughter. "You're still pretty green, aren't ya? Wet behind the ears? That's not how SHIELD operates. We already got our agents surrounding your jet plane outside and the rest of my team closing in. It's over for you terrorists."

"Terrorists!?" Claire roared. "You're the guys kidnapping children for Alphabet Soup."

"Whoa, whoa! I have no idea what Rex and McKnight are doing here, and I don't care. I work for Fury and the United States government. And I am being given orders to get my team to bring you lot in for registration... or execution." US Agent said as he pulled his shield off his back straps.

"Your _team_?" Hiro asked as Ando finished translating from the Batcave via his special earpiece.

"Yeah! The New Avengers!" US Agent revealed, rushing forward to tackle Batman Beyond.

Captain Marvel moved with lightning speed and punched US Agent before he could get close. "Retreat! Now!"

"But the Quantum Morpher!" Spider UK yelled.

"It's over!" Bruce yelled to the whole group. "Get out _now_! We aren't trained for something like this!"

Venom laughed. " _I_ am. I was one of these guys, Bruce. Now it's time to show them my friend. Let's do this _Venom style_."

Jumping forward, Venom landed beside Captain Marvel. As US Agent blocked a blow from Marvel with his shield, Venom spear tackled the black clad Avenger and slammed him into a wall.

"Head out! Now!" Batman ordered.

"But we can't leave them!" Claire shouted.

"They're big boys. They can take care of themselves." Spider UK stated as he dived back down to the third floor.

"No, they're not! Captain Marvel's like _twelve_!" Claire argued, turning back to help.

"Get off me!" US Agent yelled, throwing Venom off of him. Then, focusing, he tossed his shield like a frisbee at Captain Marvel.

Dodging the blow, Captain Marvel ducked under the flying shield and punched US Agent as hard as he could. In doing so, though, the shield was flying straight toward Claire.

"No!" Hiro screamed, freezing Time.

Rushing to her, he gasped when he saw how the shield was mere inches from her neck.

"It's a good thing you did that, Hiro!" Ando was heard saying. "Bruce said that he doesn't think Claire can survive without a head."

"You aren't frozen!?" Hiro gasped, moving the shield back to be facing US Agent.

"No, it looks like you only froze the building and some of the outside of it. I guess you have limits?" Ando suggested.

Unfreezing Time, Claire gasped when she found herself suddenly not facing certain death. She turned to Hiro and laughed.

"My guardian angel," She declared.

"For life!" Hiro stated with a smile.

"Oof!" US Agent cried out as both Venom, Captain Marvel, and the shield hit him.

"He's out cold! Let's head onto the fifth floor!" Captain Marvel declared, busting another hole in the ceiling.

"No! Follow orders!" Bruce barked. "Terry! Manage your team _now_!"

"I'm trying!" Batman Beyond yelled from the third floor. "I'm just swamped with SHIELD agents down here with Braddock. They came out of nowhere! We weren't expecting this, Bruce!"

"Welcome to being a hero!" Bruce roared. "You know better than this!"

"Yeah, _by myself_! I don't know how to run a _team_!" Batman Beyond complained.

"Argh!" Bruce shouted. "Micah, you okay!?"

"Umm... no. There's a man in armor floating outside the Bat Jet trying to beat down the shields. Sorry, I didn't want to worry you. I'm trying to hack his suit right now," Tech Boy answered.

Bruce sneered. "Tony... Micah!? Fly out of there! I can't have Iron Man taking that ship and tracing it back to me!"

"But what about-?" Tech Boy began.

" _Now_!" Bruce barked.

"This is a _disaster_." Spider UK proclaimed as he knocked out a SHIELD agent.

Meanwhile, Venom helped Hiro and Claire up to the fifth floor. "Alright, according to the graph, that big door down there will have the Quantum Morpher. Hiro? Freeze Time and take us home!"

Smiling, Hiro closed his eyes and started concentrating. Upon opening his eyes, he frowned. Time had not stopped.

"I no understand?" Hiro stated in confusion.

Claire sneered. "The Haitian..."

Looking up, they suddenly saw The Haitian standing next to a young woman in SHIELD gear. She had a metal rod in each hand. She wore a look of determination on her face as she stared at the four.

"I am Agent Hunter, but you can call me Mockingbird. Surrender now, or be in a world of pain," She warned.

Scoffing, Venom stepped forward. "We just took down your pretty boy US Agent, dearie. Your power blocking friend has no effect on me or Muscle Man here."

"Oh, right... I forgot about that. What was it you can't handle? Oh, yeah! _Sound,_ " Mockingbird stated. "Daisy! Now!"

Spinning around, Venom gasped as he saw another SHIELD agent standing at the end of the hall. She wore metallic gloves on her hands with wiring coming out of them. Pointing both hands at Venom, several pulses erupted from her hands. Before the Justice League could react, the agent known as Daisy Johnson hit Venom. The sound waves hit him so hard that they caused his Symbiote to be ripped off his body.

"Flash!" Claire cried out.

"You were right!" Daisy shouted to Mockingbird. "I'm just out of range of The Haitian! Good call!"

Hiro looked to Captain Marvel. Whispering in his ear, Marvel nodded. Picking Hiro up, he began flying down the hall as fast as he could with Hiro in his arms. Daisy sneered and began shooting sound blasts at Marvel as hard as she could. Using his arms to protect Hiro, Marvel flew until he landed right in front of Daisy before collapsing.

Daisy laughed. "For a second I thought I wouldn't be able to take you down, big boy!"

Slipping out of Marvel's arms, Hiro got up and bowed before Daisy. "You out of Haitian range? Me, too!"

"Huh?" Daisy asked.

Focusing, Hiro closed his eyes. Before Daisy could attack him, Hiro froze Time.

"Yatta!" Hiro cried out.

"Hiro! Bruce says you need to hurry!" Ando told Hiro.

Gaining composure, Hiro began running toward the room at the other end of the hall. As he did, he saw that during the commotion several SHIELD agents had converged upon both Claire and Flash Thompson. He also noted other SHIELD agents in the middle of gathering the Symbiote, Venom, into a container. Shaking his head, knowing he couldn't do anything at that point, Hiro trekked ahead.

Sighing with relief as he saw that The Haitian couldn't affect him once he was already frozen, Hiro picked up a pipe he saw on the floor and began beating the frozen Haitian over the head.

"Hiro!? What are you doing!?" Ando demanded.

Bruce smiled as he nodded slowly. "He's making sure that once Time resumes, The Haitian will instantly fall down unconscious and allow Claire access to her powers, as well as Spider UK should he be able to make the trip to the fifth floor with Terry. Smart man."

Opening the door, Hiro crept into the office. Looking around quickly, he saw the box holding the Quantum Morpher sitting on Dr. Beckett's former desk. Smiling, he grabbed it. He then rushed as fast as he could out of the room, hoping to rendezvous with Batman Beyond as was planned. Unfortunately for him, right as he stepped foot out of the room Time resumed.

"Uh-oh..." Hiro said as he saw The Haitian fall to the ground and Mockingbird turn to see it happen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hiro standing at the door.

"Oh no you don't!" She cried out, lunging at him and hitting the box out of his hands.

"Ouchie!" Hiro cried out as the rods hit his wrists. He watched in agony as the Quantum Morpher box flew out of his hands and slid across the floor toward the SHIELD agents taking the unconscious Flash Thompson.

"Take that box and don't look back!" Daisy cried out as she rushed toward Claire.

"Come here, little girl. No need to fight!" The officer grabbing at her said.

Pursing her lips, Claire knew what she had to do. She saw that he had her in a headlock, so she did the one thing her instinct told her not to do: she began twisting her head in the direction opposing the head hold. Normally it would have been extremely painful, but the medication inhibiting her pain receptors were working well. After a moment, the SHIELD agent felt Claire's neck snap.

"Oh... oh, no! I killed her!" The agent cried out, dropping her and running off.

A few moments later, Claire pulled herself up and "fixed" her neck. Looking down the hall, she saw Mockingbird cornering Hiro so he couldn't escape, with Daisy closing in as well. Sneering, she rushed forward with all her strength. As she hit Daisy from behind, she heard her collarbone snap in half from the impact. Daisy fell to the ground, twisting to fall onto her back. As she did, she shot a blast of sound at Claire. The impact hit her hard and caused her to fly into a door.

As that happened, Captain Marvel woke up. Standing up, he saw no evidence of Flash, the Symbiote, Claire, or the Quantum Morpher box. He did, though, see Hiro about to be massacred by Mockingbird.

"Get Hiro out of there _now,_ " Bruce ordered into Captain Marvel's earpiece. "Follow orders for _once_. _Please_!"

Nodding, Captain Marvel shot forward. He flew down the hallway as fast as he could. Clenching his jaw, he flew past Mockingbird (knocking her to the side) and grabbed Hiro. Before Hiro could think, Captain Marvel had barrelled through several walls and had gotten them both outside safely.

"We did it, little dude!" Captain Marvel declared. "We- agh!"

Holding onto Hiro tightly, Captain Marvel was hurtled through the air. His cape was smoldering still from the blast as he righted himself. Looking up, he was shocked to see Iron Man floating in the sky above him.

"Wow, a Superman clone. Haven't seen a flying muscle man in quite some time." Iron Man stated, laughing. "I may be old, but I can still kick yer tail. Let's tango!"

"Get out of there with Hiro _now_!" Bruce roared. "We cannot have Rex getting his hands on him!"

Nodding, Captain Marvel turned around and flew off. Every bit of his ego was pained at having to do that, but he knew it was for the best. Without looking back, he flew toward Gotham City.

Back at the building, Claire stood up slowly. She had the wind knocked out of her, but upon regaining her composure she found herself in a room. Looking to her right, she gasped as she saw Peter Petrelli lying on a bed hooked up to a machine. Moving quickly for fear that either Daisy or Mockingbird would come rushing in after her, she unplugged the machine and began shaking Peter.

"Wake up! Wake up!" She screamed.

"Huh...? What am I doing here...? Claire!?" Peter said, shaking his head. "What's going on!? Where's my brother!?"

"I don't know about your brother, but we gotta get out of here! There're bad guys everywhere and they're trying to destroy us!" Claire demanded.

Sneering, Peter stood up and nodded. "I'll get us out of here. Just stay close."

"You're not going _anywhere,_ " The voice of an older gentleman said as he appeared in the doorway holding a bow and arrow.

"That's Hawkeye. Geez I'm surprised he's still alive and _mobile,_ " Bruce said over Claire's earpiece. "He's an expert marksman. Be prepared to take an arrow, because he doesn't miss."

Peter smirked as he saw Hawkeye. "Hey, old man. You sure you wanna be pointing those arrows at us?"

"Tell your friend to shut up!" Bruce told Claire, not recognizing Peter from the videos Micah showed him.

"I _will_ put you down if I have to," Hawkeye warned.

"Wow... you're a robot..." Peter said incredulously. "Nothing going on in your mind right now but the mission..."

"Stand down _now_! Give me that girl!" Hawkeye warned.

Peter smirked. "It's like that man said, right Claire? 'Save the cheerleader, save the world.'"

As Peter turned around and grabbed Claire, Hawkeye let an arrow loose. It hit Peter right in the middle of his spine. As he felt his legs begin to lose feeling, he floated up into the air.

"You're flying!" Claire gasped.

As blood spurted out of Peter's mouth, he turned around and flew out past Hawkeye. The Avenger turned and shot several arrows out after Peter, hitting both him and Claire. It was too late, though. Peter flew out of the building following Captain Marvel's path of holes in the wall he had left behind before vanishing into the night sky.

"Hawkeye in to McKnight. The Bennett girl has escaped with Senator Petrelli's brother. Apparently Petrelli can _fly_. We were able to secure the Quantum Morpher, though. And we have Flash Thompson and his Symbiote."

Sitting at his desk, he sighed at the good news. McKnight told Hawkeye to report back to the main room with the other New Avengers. He then looked at his security monitors. On one he could see Batman Beyond and Spider UK fleeing out of the building the way they came in, through the cafeteria air vent. On another monitor he saw Matt Parkman and a security team pushing a gurney down a hall with Flashette on it. On yet another, he saw the Symbiote being given to Dr. Phenomenus while a team strapped the unconscious Flash Thompson to a bed.

"Not bad..." McKnight said with a smile. "They came in to steal my property, but I force them out and get to keep hostages and gain a new weapon. And they also lost the element of surprise! Haha! This is the closest they will _ever_ get to the Quantum Morpher!"

. . .

Bruce Wayne sat in silence in the Batcave as Ando helped Micah out of the Bat Jet. He stared at his monitors, just as McKnight had done. On one he saw Batman Beyond and Spider UK meet up on a building, finding an unconscious Peter Petrelli being nursed by Claire Bennet. On a second monitor, tapped into a satellite he owned up in space, he could see Captain Marvel racing across the nation with Hiro in hand, heading toward Gotham City. He then looked back at the Alphabet Soup facility, with Iron Man flying around it seemingly doing victory laps as he shot sparks into the sky as if they were fireworks.

Sighing, he buried his head in his hands. His first mission with the New Justice League was a monumental failure. They had lost the element of surprise and two soldiers to the enemy. They gained nothing and lost everything.

Sneering, he slowly stood up. He could hear every bone in his body creak and grind as he tried to stand erect. His years of bodily abuse as Batman had caught up with him in a bad way, but it didn't do a thing to his mind but make him stronger. Staring at the monitors, he nodded slowly.

 _We lost the first round, but we will win this war._

. . .

The man stood in the alleyway and pointed his hand at a soup can he had placed on a dumpster. Suddenly, a blast of ice erupted from his hand and froze the can.

"That's what I can do, guy. You really think I can make it big in Hollywood with something like this? I dunno... I've been trying to figure out what I can do with it ever since the eclipse and I found out I can do this. When I found your letter in my mailbox saying you were looking for people with abilities gained from the eclipse for your movie, it felt like the universe was giving me an answer, ya know?" The man stated to the gentleman standing next to him.

Smiling, the man nodded. It was Sylar, who after having threatened a surgeon to work on him (subsequently murdering him), had begun a letter campaign to cause people with gifts to come out and reveal themselves to him. He was starting in small towns around California to not get caught. The man before him was the third victim to bite.

"Oh, yes..." Sylar said as he used his telekinesis to throw the man up against a wall. "The universe certainly did lead me to you. It was _F_ _ate_."

"What... what are you doing!?" The man cried out.

"I'm becoming _stronger_. Stronger so that the next time I meet the cheerleader, nothing will stop me from getting her powers." Sylar stated as he began to saw the man's head open with his telekinesis.

As the man screamed in terror, all Sylar could do was smile. _One more power... one more to make me special... to make me unbeatable. I'm coming for you Claire, and when I do? I'll be unstoppable._


End file.
